January FMQ Challenge Entry

I've been practicing heart shaped leaves for a while.  It was getting a bit dull, so I hopped on over to Sew Cal Gal's site to see what other FMQ quilters have been up to.  Wow - lots of great ideas to be found there!  The sample above, shows some lilac stitching against some lovely hydrangeas.  Pretty, yes, but it's a little timid, isn't it?

Next, I tried different colored threads against some Kaffe Fassett scraps.  Some of the contrasting colors didn't come out well at all.   So I reverted to my usual (a.k.a. boring) similar colored thread and fabric.  Historically, I've done this to hide my FMQ mistakes.  Problem is, when you do something fantastic, that doesn't snow up either.

So I threw caution to the wind, and used some bright, bold colors against a pure white background.  It's easy to do this on a quilt sandwich.  I still get a little nervous about doing it on an actual quilt into which I put a lot of time, materials and tender loving care. 

THAT's why I need to practice, practice, practice.  I want to be able to use bold, colorful thread to create beautiful images to enhance my quilts.  One year from now, I hope to look back at my FMQ and see how far I've come!  :)