Free-Motion Quilting

Sometime ago, ME signed up for a class in free-motion quilting.  It happened to be on a date I couldn't go, but I told her that was okay since I had no interest in the subject of the class.  As time went by and I thought more about it, however, I realized that I could save money if I could take care of my smaller pieces (table runners, small wall hangings, pillows, et al) if I could do the quilting myself.   Luckily for me, a new class was offered at a time I could take it, ME was able to change dates, so we both took the class last Saturday.

 

Well, let me tell you, it isn't easy.  Here's my first and third attempts (second one was angular meandering, and it was even worse than my first):

 





Meandering Star





Meandering Stitch

They are awful! Not only do I need a gazillion hours of practice on both, I also need to look more carefully at both stitches to see what they should look like because these are definitely not it. I should have taken photos of ME's meandering and passed it off as mine because she did a much better job!

 

The next stitch we were supposed to try was a meandering leave pattern.  It's quite pretty, but I was fed up with my meandering flame-outs and decided to forget meandering and just make leaves.  After all, I do know what leaves look like!  So here are leaves all around a border with acorns in the center.  Far from perfect but better (and lots more fun!).

Leaves and Acorns

Since I liked doing that and felt that I might have found something that I could do, I tried the meandering flowers.  Humph!  Got fed up with that quickly and decided I'd just work on flowers (and some squiggly stitches at the bottom left).   With these flowers you can tell that I haven't learned yet how to begin and end each element (see the thread leaving the left leaf of the lily of the valley and heading to the iris standards?).  What I was doing was completely spontaneous, and, lesson for self, this takes careful planning.

Lily of the Valley and Iris

 I did like the beard on the iris falls, though.  Below you will see a leaf (rabbit chewed?) and a tulip with more squiggle practice.  The tulip is okay though not as successful as the iris.  It's on a par with the lily of the valley.  And the leaf?  Well, let's just forget about it, okay? 

Tulip with Gnawed Leaf

I don't remember what I was supposed to be doing in this panel, but I thought since I love house quilts and plan to make one at some time, I'd try a tree and a house.  I started at the top of the tree (I really like variegated thread for this kind of thread play!), went down the trunk, back up and out a branch to the house.  At least I learned that I have to find a path for transportation.  Too bad I didn't think about proximity!

Tree Lassoing a House

There is something in this that will work for me so I will practice meandering (in thread not just walking around aimlessly, I promise!).  After all, I have to do some genuine quilting and not just draw pictures!