FMQ on AMQG raffle quilt

At times I regret organising a quilt to raise funds for the Auckland Modern Quilt Guild (AMQG), but I admit that I am enjoying the process even though it has been time consuming. Luckily (maybe) I have been home sick these past few days, so I have had some time between naps to sew.

Members of the guild have made blocks and we have had 2 working days to piece together the tops (we have enough for 2) and sandwich the layers. I have volunteered to quilt one of them and another member (with a long arm - lucky!) is doing the second one.

I stressed over my foolhardiness, but came to terms with my decision to quilt this. I've done big quilts before, but only for me, not for someone else - and certainly not for someone willing to pay money for a raffle ticket. But, I am looking at it as a learning experience.

So, my first step was to engulf myself in anything I could to learn more about FMQ - books from the library, a course on Craftsy, a few books downloaded to my Kindle. And what did I learn? That I knew what I was doing and that none of these things could give me what I needed - courage!

So, yesterday I dived in. I started with the stars - each one requiring a different color thread. Luckily, I have a lot of thread (some are mine from years of sewing; others from my MIL when she moved into a nursing home).

For each star, I've done a square spiral in the center and curvy zig-zags on the points. I admit that none of them are perfect, but altogether, they look good.

I have 3 more stars to do and then I will start on the background. I'm planning a swirly pattern although I have not yet committed to the exact motif - I've done about 10 samples on paper and on fabric, but am still undecided. I have a pale grey veriegated thread already for the background, so I should be moving forward on that this weekend.

Here's a wider shot of the quilt - or check out a full photo of the flimsy on the AMQG website.