Stop, Drop and Roll, part 5.2

Welcome to week 5 of the Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along! I am hosting this for the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr group.

Week 1: We made our blocks.
Week 2: We assembled our quilt tops.
Week 3: We basted our quilts.
Week 4: We practiced some straight line quilting patterns.

This week, all of the free-motion quilting patterns are based on a single curve, like the letter "C".

The machine:
I used my Janome 6600 for this video. I used the darning foot on the machine and I dropped my feed dogs.

The thread:
For the top thread, I used Tutti from WonderFil, color TU10 Roses.
For the bobbin thread, I used DecoBob. by WonderFil, color DB209 Raspberry.

The video:
I love today's pattern! It looks like a fern and I use it as an overall design, a block design, a border design, or anywhere else I want to see a fern.

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:




The finished pattern:




The hints:

• When stitching the fern, keep the bottoms spaced a good distance apart on the stem. If the fern is very narrow, it will "fall over."


• I usually pause in the corners to allow the machine to take an extra stitch. This makes my corners nice and sharp.


• When I need to stop the machine, I stop in a corner. If I stop in the middle of a design, the stop/start will leave a visible jog.


• Even though my first machine quilting teacher told me to "quilt fast and don't stop," I quilt rather slowly. I set my machine to the speed I want to quilt, and then put my pedal to the floor. This helps keep my stitches a consistent length.


• I stop frequently while quilting. This keeps me from getting a sore neck, allows me to reposition my hands, and gives me time to figure out where to place the next design.

Visit again tomorrow for another single-curve free-motion quilting design.