FMQ Challenge Recap - January 2012

First, I want to recognize and formally thank Frances Moore, our January FMQ expert for her wonderful tutorial, as well as all the insightsshe shared on her blog, to provide supplemental information and inspiration.  Of course, I always enjoy her blog, but it was greatly appreciated to have her so active in support of her tutorial this month.

To help express appreciation to Frances, I took the liberty to share a few comments and observations that I've seen this month:


{above} Gail Fossman shared on the groups' optional Facebook page:  "Did my January FMQ today and I must say that after watching the video & practicing on paper, this is some of the best quilting I've done!!! i can't wait for February!"

{above} Many were inspired by various designs by Frances.  Gelopop shared this beautiful entry as her Flickr entry.

{above} Many tried creating versions of the leaves, including this one by Diane Myron and shared on Facebook.

I believe we all learned and improved our free-motion skills this month, and many had fun applying this FMQ design to UFOs and other projects.  Thus, I want to give a big stand up applause to Frances Moore for teaching us and inspiring us with FMQ.  Thank you, Frances.


There are over 2,000 quilters that have taken the Pledge to complete all 12 tutorials in 2012, which is a requirement to win a Grand Prize.  And, there are many more quilters that are participating, but have acknowledged their schedule won't allow them to complete all 12 tutorials.  At the time of writing this post, there are 300 quilters that complete the January tutorial and took time to enter it in the monthly challenge, to win a Monthly prize.

The objective of the 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge is to encourage quilters to learn and improve their FMQ skills, as well as gain more awareness to various FMQ Experts, opportunities to learn, tools that are helpful for those doing FMQ, all on a home sewing machine.  While the focus is on learning, and SewCalGal does not want the focus to become all about winning prizes, I'm also delighted that many generous sponsors have donated wonderful Grand Prizes and Monthly prizes, that will be awarded to participants randomly.  It doesn't matter how good you are at FMQ, what matters is you take time to learn and improve.

Details on how to win a monthly prize will always be shared in the same post for the monthly tutorial. Details on how to win a Grand Prize will be shared later this year, but hte basic rule will be that you will need to complete all 12 FMQ tutorials "anytime" in 2012 to be eligible to win a Grand Prize.

SewCalGal is proud to recognize our
GRAND PRIZE SPONSORS
for this challenge.
IF you are interested in being a Grand Prize sponsor, please email SewCalGal for more info.

Sponsor(s)	Prize(s)
The Fat Quarter Shop	Six prizes for Grand Prize Winners: 1 - $250 GC 1 - $150 GC 1 - $100 GC 3 - $50 GCs
	One lucky winner will receive a $200 gift certificate to The Stencil Company where they can pick out their favorite continuous line stencil designs that are perfect for quilting
Dream World	One lucky winner will receive a Pieceful Holiday Quilting Package, which includes: a Steady portable tables, a Travel/Storage Bag, Sew Straight Guide, Spinner Tray and Polish Kit estimated value: $149.99
The Electric Quilt Company	One lucky winner will receive a copy of EQ7 Retail price: $189.95
June Tailor	A bundle of June Tailor products, perfect for free motion quilting, with an estimated value over $100
	A bundle of books, perfect for those interested in free motion quilting, with an estimated value over $100

SewCalGal is proud to recognize our
MONTHLY PRIZE SPONSORS
for this challenge.

Sponsor(s)	Prize(s)
Aurifil -	sampler pack of 5 threads (12) Silk Stars Thread kit, with 12 spools of 40 wt threads:
SewSlip	SewSlip has donated 12 SewSlips!
Sewline:	Trio Three Color Fabric Marking Pencils with an extra refill package.
Quilters Touch	Quilters Touch has donated 12 bundles, each with a value of $27.95: pair of Machingers quilting gloves value $8 each Sew Precise Sew Fast Machine Binding DVD (retail $19.95),
Electric Quilt	winners' choice of Quiltmaker Quilting Designs software from Volume 1-7

Prizes for the challenge this month are:

Prize #1 - Silk Stars Thread kit, with 12 spools of 40 wt threads, donated by Aurifil.



Prize #2 - bundle that includes:

• a sampler pack of 5 Aurifil threads,, donated by Aurifil.
• a SewSlip, donated by SewSlip

Quilters Touch has donated 12 bundles, each with a value of $27.95:

• pair of Machingers quilting gloves value $8 each

• Sew Precise Sew Fast Machine Binding DVD (retail $19.95),

There is still time to enter to win a prize, simply visit the January tutorial for more information. But all entries for this monthly challenge need to be submitted in January.   This post will be updated later this week, to announce the January winners.  And, an email will be sent to the winners.

The February tuturial will be released on February lst.  An email announcement, with additional information, will also be sent to those that signed up for optional emails for this event. If you didn't sign up for such emails and are interested, click here to sign up. 


Don't forget that you can always use the January tutorial provided by Frances Moore.  SewCalGal encourages everyone to continue to practice with this excellent tutorial, to be able to apply it to your quilting projects.  I also hope that you will consider tell your local Quilt Guild and Quilt Shops about Frances, as she is certainly willing to travel to teach FMQ and can help quilters of all levels.  And, don't forget to follow her blog, as she always shares great tips & inspiration.



Frances Moore
email: frantasticquilts@sbcglobal.net
blog: http://frantastic-stitchwitchery.blogspot.com