Free Motion Quilting

One of the things I really wanted to do when I retired was to learn how to free motion quilt.  I was excited when I came across the FMQ Challenge for 2012 -- each month there will be a video from a different teacher with a new challenge.  I decided it was a good time to get started.

The teacher for January's challenge is Frances Moore who demonstrated a simple leaf pattern.  Before starting with the sewing machine it was suggested we draw out the design on paper to sort of fix it in our brain or some such thing.  Art is not a talent of mine, but I thought I'd try some doodling -

After scribbling a bit, I set out to try it on my machine.  I used a 50 weight cotton thread in both top and bobbin and used a size 80 topstitch needle.   I had a piece of linen/cotton that had faded on the fold lines so I decided to practice with that.  If I had thought of it, I would have used a darker thread that might photograph better.

There's some pretty deformed looking leaves in there and I had some difficulty with spacing, but I feel pretty satisfied for a beginner.  I'm looking forward to seeing what I can achieve by the end of 2012.