Thursday, March 10, 2011

Free motion quilting

There used to be a store near here where they sold little stones with happy faces on them.  I would keep them in a dish and when a client wanted a quick fix, I would just hand them a magic stone!!!  So wonderful...but, alas when I needed them, they were all gone.  So when Iris showed up at Guild with a quilt with wonderful free motion quilting, I wanted to know how to do that and fast. I didn't know that Iris knew how to do that...I wanted not to be left behind!  Hmm was I hoping a bolt would hit me from the sky..yup...or maybe there would be a new magic pill??   yup...  But, that was not to be.  As today came to an end and the Habitat guy was getting ready to go, I found an orphan block that I had been going to make into a pot holder.  The light bulb in my head came on and I decided to practice free motion quilting on that potholder.  I  emphasize the word practice, because I think that is really the answer.  I am delighted and here is my result:.

I have never done those little circles before.  I realized that I always keep my machine on the fast mode, but that keeping it slower was better for this task. This was arduous, but I think I was concentrating too hard and not relaxing.  I am looking forward to more of that word:  Practice:)

1 comment:

Ruth said...

beautiful! maybe one day i'll have the patience to learn free-motion.