Sunday 4 August 2013

Free motion phobia

I have a Bernina 440QE and lots of quilt tops.  And no talent for free motion quilting.  Then I found http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.co.uk/.  In one of Leah Days posts she said 'pick a pattern and quilt three tops with it'.  I had been practicing over the last month, but every time I tried sewing on one of the charity quilts I ended up unpicking it (tedious).  
Having spoilt  myself by buying the 440 QE it's crazy not to use it. So, I picked a pattern with a rhythm, rather than trying to plug away at stippling and it all looking uneven.  So many to choose from on this site! I picked one called wormhole (appeals to a sci-fi fan), practiced and adapted a little.  The front is OK, pale on pale, but the back! Not so cool in closeup!

I started quilting a border in a dark variegated pink: that came out as  it was too noticeable! I left that pink in on the bobbin as its closer to the backing and found something paler. Better!  I'm starting to get the hang of the foot control.  It's actually better now I have sped the stitching up.  This is something I want to be really good at.  I will have plenty of practice, I have six charity quilts, a baby quilt and four double tops to do! 

The centre is lightly quilted with the walking foot, the border will be a contrasting texture. 
One side down, three to go on this charity quilt.  Then it's on to the baby quilt for a work colleague, same pattern but all over and in a slightly larger scale.