barefoot quilting...

all ready to mark my lines

the back

more back shots

So on to my very favorite part... quilting!  I love to free motion quilt.  I am guilty of making simple quilt tops to hurry through the piecing and get to the quilting- It is an activity I truly do enjoy.  I just started free motion this past May when I got a darning foot for my machine for my birthday.  I clicked with it right away- and it took my quilts to a whole new level.  If you haven't started free motion quilting already then I strongly recommend you try it.  For this quilt I chose to do a feathered X on each block- which to me looks like snow flakes- perfect for my Christmas theme.  I learned this pattern here and have really enjoyed using it on several quilts.  I have a feather obsession and this is one of my favorite feather patterns to quilt.  I really enjoy how it fills a block so perfectly- for this quilt I had to mark the horizontal and vertical lines through each block- I did so with a disappearing ink pen.  I have used the feathered X to quilt pinwheel blocks as well and I love how with those all the seam lines become your edges and you don't have to do any marking at all.  Once my lines were marked I took off my shoes and started quilting my heart out.  Yes, you read that right- took off my shoes.  That tip- quilting barefoot- is the best free motion quilting tip I could ever give- take off your shoes!!  You will be amazed at the subtle nuisances of speed control you can achieve with bare feet.  When my shoes are on I can go three speeds at best, slow, medium and fast- but with no shoes it is easy to "drive" your machine like you drive your car speeding up during the straight areas, slowing down with the curves.  It has made my stitches so much more even and better looking.  It also allows me to feel in control of my machine which is so important while quilting.  Yes ladies and gents, while quilting, try taking off your shoes! 
     I got the whole top quilted in 2 sessions- about 3 hours each.  I did all the red one night and the next day got all the green done.  I found this pattern a bit harder to achieve on such a large scale.  My blocks are around 14" and when I got to the bigger areas it was hard to keep everything moving perfectly.  The quilting isn't 100% perfect- but I am still learning and am pleased with the results regardless.  All part of the journey as I like to remind myself.  I have to say I was a bit sad to be finished with the quilting- ahhh it always ends too soon for me.  I find it funny that I waited so long to try free motion quilting.  For me it made everything so much more fun and gave so many new opportunities for creativity.  Please do give it a try if you haven't already- and stay tuned for more quilting tips in the future.  Now on to the binding- but we will talk about that next time.