Back to Free Motion Quilting

An article by Rachel    Comments Off

Lately, I’ve been in straight-quilt-line mood, which is easy and doesn’t require the same commitment as free-motion quilting. Well I decided it was time to get out of the rut and do a bit of free-motion quilting.

To keep things simple, I decided to do an all over loop pattern. It is a forgiving pattern that doesn’t require marking or too much pre-planning. The quilting process did take more time than quilting straight lines, but I’m so happy with the results that I can live with the time investment. Here’s a glimpse at a corner. I used gray thread to match the Kona Coal.

For the most part, I maintained my stitch length, and there aren’t too many jagged curved. My machine even cooperated. It really could use a tune-up. So I’m counting myself lucky. I was surprise at how much thread I used. When I bought the quilting supplies, I bought 500 yards of thread. 500 yards didn’t even finish half the quilt. I went back and bought three more spools. When I was done, I had a bit of thread left on the fifth spool. That’s over 1000 yards of thread for a quilt that measures 64″ x 64″.

And for a parting shot, here’s the whole back. I’ll reveal the front when I’m done hand sewing the binding. I need to go find a good movie.