January Free Motion Quilting Challenge

Earlier this month I joined SewCalGal’s 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge. I want to use this challenge as a way to get to know my new sewing machine, George. January’s guest teacher was Frances Moore, and she did a video tutorial on quilting an all-over leaf pattern.

I used a fat quarter of Kona cotton with some scraps of 100% cotton batting to quilt on. I used 40 wt variegated thread by Superior. I roughly divided the quilt sandwich into fourths. My plan was to begin quilting the all-over leaf pattern which Frances was teaching in one section, and then do something a little more complicated in each section. I’ve taken these pictures with a flash to minimize the shadows so you can see the quilting lines better.

Here is the simple, all-over leaf pattern. I started in the lower left corner and worked my way around in a somewhat counter-clockwise direction. This leaf is just a simple shape with the center vein. Occassionally, I threw in a curly tendril.

In the second section, I quilted the same leaf shapes, but this time I added veins within the leaves.

In the third section, I wanted to work very loosely and sketchy. I did the same leaf with veins as I did in section two, but this time I went around the leaf a second time, purposely creating a line that meandered back and forth over the first line. I wanted to create places where the lines merged or crossed and places where they were just near each other. My purpose was to create variety and energy.

In the last section, I just tried to do each leaf differently, some with multiple lobes, some with jagged edges, or whatever struck my fancy at that moment.

All in all, this was a fun little challenge. I can’t wait until the next one. Diane Gaudynski will be the guest teacher!