Free Motion Machine Quilting - Attempt #1

The fear was real.  I created a little practice sandwich, used a fabric pen to create sections on the practice fabric, dropped the feed dogs for the first time on my machine, installed the free motion foot that came with it, and was ready to start my first attempt at free-motion machine quilting.

Of course, I didn't leap in blindly.  Thanks to YouTube, I was able to raise my confidence that this practice piece would be what I needed to get started with free-motion machine quilting.  Sure, I would need several rounds of practice, but I could get started with this first sampler I was about to create.

Now, my stitches varied widely in length, and some of my trial patterns were more successful than others.  I shared the sampler with my quilt support group on Skype and they were so encouraging with my first attempt.  Here it is below.  What do you think of it?

Once begun is partway done!  Getting started and learning that being creative is about getting messy and trying new things is the best thing to do.

One Monthly Goal - May 2020

It's May, and it has come none too soon.  I just recently stumbled across the Elm Street Quilts Blog and their One Monthly Goal challenge.  Let it never be said I'm not up for a good challenge!

This month's challenge is a big one psychologically for me - free motion machine quilting!  In this case, I want to quilt a Guild Block of the Month project using free motion machine quilting.  I have done hand quilting and stitch-in-the-ditch machine quilting, and even one shot at long arm quilting, but this is actually a first for me.  Here's a picture of the quilt - sandwiched, pinned, and ready for the fear to subside and the quilting to begin.

If you want to follow along or join in yourself, check out Elm Street Quilts - May 2020 One Month Goal

Free Motion Fears

For a while now, I've been toying with the idea of a long arm quilting machine with a frame as a dream acquisition and the answer to a challenge I currently have. I lack a big floor or table space to be able to sandwich quilt tops.  I've done some lap quilts on my domestic sewing machine, but always stitch in the ditch using a walking foot.

And then, I became inspired by the wonderful group of quilters I meet up with regularly.  They were able to do some amazing quilting on both domestic sewing machines and with mid to long arm machines that were sit-down.  How do I know I would use a large machine if I have not tried to make the most of my own machine?

So this weekend, I plan on taking a break from "Frolic" to try an experiment on free-motion machine quilting on my domestic machine this weekend.  Stay tuned for how it turns out.

In the meantime, I have now completed several of the main "Frolic" blocks.  Here's a picture to check out my progress.