By Kathleen Barkley
Free - Motion
MASTERY IN A MONTH
A BLOCK A DAY
TO MACHINE QUILTING
Author: RaNae Merrill
Published by
RaNae Merrill Quilt Design
370 West 118th Street, #2D
New York, New York 10026
www.FreeMotionMasteryinaMonth.com
Free - Motion
MASTERY IN A MONTH (FMM30) is RaNae Merrill's fourth book. Professionalquilter, instructor, and vendor, RaNae, in addition to writing books, hasdesigned fabrics for Blank Quilting and is published in a variety of quilt magazines. One of the best take-aways from this book is that the reader will learn a new way of machine quilting that works whether you quilt on a domestic sewing machine, a frame mounted arm or alongarm. According to RaNae,FMM30 works on any type of sewing machine. For those experienced quilters, the toolsRaNae demonstrates will help improve your quilting and assist quilters in perfecting new patterns in a timely manner.
According to RaNae, the firststep in mastering free-motion quilting is getting comfortable with the 6 basic shapes in quilt design and developing muscle memory and parallel motion. RaNae demonstrates how to quilt line, c-curve, circle, teardrop, s-curve, and spiral designs.
RaNae teaches methods that help your body coordinate the movement in patterns and the building blocks of quilt designs. The FMM30 lessons are laid out in a 30-day plan and the free-motion quilting combines 3 skills; machine control, muscle memory, and a mental map. Each skill is practiced separately and then put together to complete the quilting process
Following RaNae's introduction is a Gallery of quilts using her FMM30 system. Each page shows the whole quilt as well as the detailed quilting. Fabric do's and don'ts are discussed as well as thread, batting (RaNae recommends double-sided fusible batting, Hobbs' Heirloom Fusible 80/20 because it isrepositionable even after being used, doesn't release fumes when ironed, and will not gunk up your sewing machine), fabric selection, quilt yoga, and the importance of tension.
Thanks to Lois Daubney for recommending RaNae's book. It is chockfull of pertinent information for both the beginning and experienced quilter. The Education Committee recently approved a recommendation for entering into a contract with RaNae Merrill for a two day class in 2024.