The Free-Motion Quilting Idea App!

Posted on January 21, 2016 by Amanda Murphy — 6 Comments

Oh my goodness the day has finally come when I can say that my Free-Motion Quilting Idea App has launched! Pinching myself! Then pinching myself again! It is a companion piece to the book and the sampler of the same name and it is all new in the App Store for your iPad and iPhone. (An android version is to follow – I don’t have a date yet.)

The Free-Motion Quilting Idea App on the iPad

The Free-Motion Quilting Idea App on the iPhone

As many of you know, The Free-Motion Quilting Idea Book is a reference tool – to keep by your machine and spark your imagination. It is comprised of drawings that show you, step-by-step, how to form many different free-motion patterns and then apply them to blocks, sashing, and borders. It is a reference tool to keep by your machine, really. If you can do just a few free-motion patterns you CAN do custom-style quilting. I really believe that. If I can do it you can too!

The App builds further expands that concept, showing you step-by-step through, through animation and video, how to form the basic allover designs that all the designs in the book were based upon. In the app you can actually see each of the allover patterns animated and many of them stitched out by me on the BERNINA Q Series!

On the app you can actually see this paisley design being drawn out!

Or you can watch me quilt it on a video…

I want to thank for C&T and BERNINA for making this project a reality. Seriously, I could have never ever done with with the help and support of these fantastic companies. All the filming was done at BERNINA USA headquarters in Chicago with an amazing and the entire thing was put together by the wonderful people at C&T Publishing, who had the vision to believe in the project in the first place. And I want to thank you guys out there for your enthusiastic reception of The Free-Motion Quilting Idea Book – quilters are amazingly creative and generous people.

To find the App you can search the App store or use my affiliate link by clicking here.

If you are interested in being part of my Facebook group for people who are getting inspiration from the book, app, and/or the companion sampler, please join us!

I hope you really love the App!

Happy New Year and happy quilting!

Amanda

APQ Quilt Along 2016: Part 1

Posted on January 20, 2016January 30, 2016 by Amanda Murphy — Leave a comment

Hi guys,

Have you heard? It is time for the APQ Quilt Along for 2016! This year plus-sign quilts are all the rage and I was thrilled to be asked to join in on the fun! You can choose from one of three projects – appearing in the new Quilts and More issue on newsstands this week and the April issue of APQ, on newsstands February 2nd but shipping to subscribers before then.

But they said that we could give sneak peeks so I thought I’d show you this lovely quilt called Easy Addition, which was designed by Brenda Ratliff and will appear in the new addition of ~~APQ~~ Quilts and More.

Makes you want to quilt along, right? Me too!

I really loved all three options, but I chose this one because it was perfect for my Sparkle collection for Benartex, which has lots of bright colors plus a fun white and aqua print – it ships to stores in March/April. Easy Addition is super easy to piece. It is rather large, so I’m going to make a version with half the blocks – 24 – so I’ve chosen 12 of my favorite small quarters, plus the white/aqua blender for the background.

EasyAddition_1B — These are my fat quarter fabrics for the blocks…

EasyAddition_1C — … and the stripe in the lower right is for the binding.

For more information you can visit APQ’s site. I hope you all will join in! The more the merrier – it will be fun to see all the different variations of plus-sign quilts! Remember to post pictures using the hashtag #APQQuiltalong on Instagram!

Happy quilting!

Amanda

P.S. On the frame right now I’m quilting this Carina version for the Free-Motion Quilting Idea Sampler Facebook Group. There are really some spectacular versions of this quilt in all different fabrics going on there – be sure to join us!

Quilting BERNINA-Style: Swirl Feathers at We All Sew

Posted on January 6, 2016January 6, 2016 by Amanda Murphy — Leave a comment

Hi everyone!
I hope you had wonderful holidays. This is just a short post today to tell you that I’m guest-posting over at We All Sew ~~today~~ on Friday (sorry – change of plans!) with a free step-by-step quilting tutorial there and below. Last month when I visited I could tell from comments there was a lot of interest in learning how to quilt feathers – so today I have an easy and forgiving variation of a feather for you. It is one of my favorites – a swirl feather!

SwirlFeather_red_alt2_1000 — This swirl feather is quilted on a red print for my Sparkle line for Benartex (shipping in March/April) in Aurifil 50 wt. thread on my lovely BERNINA Q24.

You can get step-by-step instructions for quilting a swirl feather by clicking here or on the picture below and you can see more pictures and a few videos by visiting We All Sew on Friday!