Walk Jog Run

Hello!  A few weeks ago my cute friend Dara asked me if I’d review her new book “Walk Jog Run: A Free-Motion Quilting Workout”.  I met Dara many years ago at a Quilt Market.  She’s adorable and I had so much fun talking to her.  I think she was just learning how to machine quilt back then and I’ve had such a great time watching her grow  — and now she’s sharing all the valuable lessons she’s learned in her new book.  Here’s a peek at the little project I made from her book …

… but more on that in a minute. First, the book, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading.  She’s so full of wisdom and really great tips about free-motion quilting.

The book starts off with all the basics you’ll need to know for free-motion quilting.  She goes into great detail about sewing machines, thread, fabric, batting and other supplies.  Then she talks about setting up your workspace, setting some goals (Dara is an expert on setting goals and, in addition to being a talented quilter, she’s a life coach), and building basic skills.  I think my favorite part of the book is how she compares free motion quilting to doodling and all the many exercises to help you build your fmq skills.  Then, with the basics out of the way, Dara has an extensive section of projects in order to build your skills and get lots of fmq practice.  Here’s a listing of the projects from the table of contents — lots of fun stuff in here!

For my project, I selected the child’s apron.  FinallyAGirl and I love to make cookies and cupcakes together (we even recently did a facetime cookie baking session since we can’t see each other right now) and I’ve always wanted to make her a little apron.  I’d been saving just the right Martha Negly cupcake print for her someday apron.

Dara’s apron is a patchwork apron, but I didn’t want to cut up the cupcake print, so I opted for a “whole-cloth” apron.   Dara quilted her child’s apron with some super cute fmq daisies.  I was all set to do the daisies – I got out my paper and went through all the daisy doodling exercises, but when it came time to actually quilt the daisies, I bailed out.  The main reason is that I didn’t want the daisies to interfere with the cupcakes (or the puppy print on the other side) and I couldn’t figure out how to place the daisies from either side where they wouldn’t interfere with the design on the opposite side (if that makes sense.)

So, I ended up doing a simple, large stipple on our little apron.  I was facetiming with FinallyAGirl when I started the apron and I told her what I was making.  I said “What fabric do you think we should put on the back side of your apron?”  With no hesitation, she yelled out “PUPPIES!”  Puppies?  Where did that come from?  Well … it just so happens that Grammy had a cute little puppy print in the stash, so, puppies it is.  Sewing for someone who isn’t with you is tricky and, as you can see, this apron is a little big.  It’s ok though, that just means we’ll get many years of baking out of it.

After I finished the apron, I took it over and left it on the doorstep.  Special thanks to SweetiePie who took some pictures for me.  Rumor has it that FinallyAGirl LOVES the puppy side and really didn’t want to model the cupcake side.  So, the puppies are now the front of the apron instead of the back LOL.

So, another fun project in the books.  Dara’s book Walk Jog Run: A Free-Motion Quilting Workout is available from C&T and anywhere books are sold and is currently the #1 seller! If you’re at all interested in free motion quilting, Dara is your girl — you’re going to love her book!

XOXO,
Anna