April Free Motion Quilting Challenge

Don Linn presented the Free Motion Quilting Challenge this month. I'm used to finishing my quilts by meandering and not following any sort of line. I was a bit nervous! I watched his tutorial which was mainly geared towards marking the pattern. I made this design twice. I encountered problems with my thread and needle the first time. The thread kept breaking and I noticed my needle looked sort of crooked. I changed the needle and everything became so much easier!

I used Fons and Porter fabric pencil to mark the design. It's just dark enough to see and very easy to remove. It practically removes itself while you sew it. I also used Aurifil Mako 50 weight and Bottom Line in the bobbin. I had no problems with tension at all. I would definitely use this method again. I was thinking of using this on the quilt I am machine quilting. I have the center all quilted but I now have 12 blocks left to quilt. It would be great if I could use this idea to finish up that quilt. I'll have to look through my book collection and internet for some patterns I would be able to use. It's so nice to add some variety to my machine quilting. This is exactly why I wanted to try this challenge. So grateful for SewCal Gal for making this available.