Free Motion Quilting

I finally got some time yesterday to start my free motion quilt along.  It's really hard for me to pick out fabric to practice on, but I finally decided on a piece I thought I could spare from my stash.  I decided these will be cat quilts, so it isn't really wasting my precious fabric.  I'm also choosing fabric I bought that probably isn't the best quality.  

I did some lines, zig zags and loops.  My tension was fine.  I really just need to practice, practice and practice.

I spent some time going through my books and pulling out the machine quilting ones.  I really like this  book the best of them all.

I did find the Kathy Sandbach book I have too.   And of course, I found some other ones too.  I'm great at buying and reading books.  I think it's one way of procrastinating--I'm good at that too.   This free motion along is going to help.  I had fun yesterday and that's what I need to do--stop putting it off and jump into it and "have fun" with it.

I used the Supreme Slider yesterday.  I bought this from Leah Day when she had it on sale.  ( I love her blog.)  I really liked how it worked.  I have done free motion on  my smaller quilts, placemats and table runners.  I think this is really going to help.  The practice piece really slide through so easily.  I don't think my arms will get so tired on a bigger quilt.

It is a sheet of plastic that lays on your machine bed.  It sticks on there.  It's very slippery and the material doesn't drag at all as you move it across.  I really love my stitch regulator on my Bernina.   

I'm looking forward to doing the work to finally start being a free motion quilter. I have a pinwheel quilt and a jelly roll quilt that will need to be quilted. I'm actually getting excited about that instead of nervous. 

It was a rainy day today.  It only rained .40, but took all day to do it.  DH was in the house, so I didn't get any sewing done.  It was a lazy rainy day. He doesn't get those very often, so we took advantage of it.  There were things that could have been done, but sometime you need a mental health day.   I baked some zucchini bread.  We spent some time on the internet looking at companies that build buildings.   DH is dreaming of a new shop.  He wanted to check out some different sites and plans. 

It's raining out again.   The sunflowers have needed rain--I hope it's not too late to make a difference.   It has been cold at night, but not freezing yet.  I hope it holds off for a while, so I can keep picking tomatoes and cucumbers.  They are such a treat. 

 It's getting late and I'm off to bed..............................