girls week ~

chocolate chip waffles  with strawberries and powdered sugar

my first free-hand motion flower ~ :(

it got easier ~ ; )

 I will be stepping away from this space for a week for debate tournaments and a little road trip to visit colleges with the girls. I couldn't leave until I shared my first free-hand motion quilting project.

I was disappointed, frustrated and thought what a big mistake it was to purchase a new sewing machine. The stitches are so close together that I think that first flower could perforate right out. After walking away for some time and thinking, I came back and began again, easier and easier. I did have some help. I purchased 2 books on the subject, Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting by Natalia Bonner & Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters. Lovely books. 

On a piece of graph paper I drew out the quilt design then played around with ideas from both books. And I thought choosing fabric was hard. Nothing seemed to work until I was able to see that the 9-patch squares had a lot of negative space. A single loop for each petal was too plain, the double loop was just right.

So in between rounds of debate, for which I am a judge, I will stitch the binding. Now to plan out the next free-hand motion design on my finished quilts ~ either Rain or Shine pattern by Elizabeth Hartman or Modern Workshop pattern by Oliver & S. These quilt tops have been waiting......

And about the first picture ~ Darling daughter #3 made us chocolate chip waffles with strawberries one fine morning ~ sweet!

Have a great weekend