Free Motion Practice

With some leftover fabric and double-folded bias tape, I put together a mini quilt. 

Ok, it looks more like a placemat! So that's what it has ended up being. And my son thinks it's pretty cool to eat his dinner on it. Fine with me. Because this was quilting practice.

 I finally bought a darning foot and did some "stippling" across the top, along with some circles, hearts, and loops. (Oh, and some weird maneuvers here and there.) Free-motion quilting was a lot more physical than I thought it'd be. When I finished this top (one-plus bobbins later), I was beat. My arms were actually tired. I couldn't believe it. I started to wonder if I was doing it right. Were my stipples close enough together? On a full-sized quilt, should I space them out more?...Or not? (If not, I need to buy a lot more thread.)

 Doing the appliques was the most fun. I switched to black thread and got to do some "drawing" with my needle. 

I really liked this part.

 Overall, it was definitely a good thing that I practiced on some scraps before quilting a large quilt. I had fun learning as I went and I think I definitely got better (and more confident) with the darning needle by the time I finished up.

Ok, now please pass the spaghetti.