Again, Free Motion

Whee------------!!!  It's cooler in Texas today!  And there's hope for it to stay below 100 degrees all week, with even a little rain scattered around! 

Except for an eye doctor's appointment and a baby shower, I was at home most of the time during the really hot days!  After finishing that little patriotic table mat from last post, I thought I'd quilt the Stars quilt, and indeed I drew 2-3 different quilting designs in a couple of blocks, but didn't like them --- make that, I didn't think I could quilt them, so I decided to lay it aside and practice more free motion. 

I have a little 5-year old friend who loves me and she loves purple, so I decided to practice on a cheater fabric, and I gave her the result yesterday after church.  I asked her if she ever practices drawing or coloring, and she said yes.  I told her that I was practicing too, and decided to use her favorite color so I could make it for her. She just beamed!   She has no idea how many foul-ups are in it, but she doesn't care, and that makes it great!  It is 42" long, and I measured, but failed to write down how wide!  Duh!  (28"??)

She has a new little brother, and I wanted to give him this next little quilt, but wouldn't do it until I could give her something too.  You will remember this one from a couple of months back.  (36" x 36")

Now back to the free motion quilt.  I just have to tell you (so that I can remember later *giggle*) that I worked in "quarters", and turned the quilt only twice, quilting forward, backwards, and sideways, and I broke thread and re-started only once!  That was because the top thread broke on it's own!  I did stop a couple of times to stretch, with the needle down,  but the entire thing took me about an hour and a half!  Slow, I know, but much faster that I had thought it would be.  Of course, there are a few almost half-inch stitches, and some really short ones, but I'm feeling a little better about the learning process than I did last week.  By the time I finished, I was beginning to get the feel of hand/foot motion coordination.  I'm convinced that cannot be done without practice on lots of  cheap muslin!

So all you gals out there who think you can't free motion, just dig in!  I do think there is hope for me to at least do stipling that's halfway acceptable, and if I can learn, you can for sure!  I'm certainly not ready to tackle the fancy stuff like Ruth and others do, but maybe someday I will, if I live long enough.  In the meantime, I'll be doing mostly stipling!  Come on and try it with me!   ("It works real good, if you hold your mouth just right!"  ---  That's what my Daddy used to tell me! *wink*)

Guess I better get busy on something!  Have a good week!

---"Love"