Stop, Drop and Roll, part 5.4

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:
Like yesterday, today's free-motion quilting pattern could be considered a holiday pattern. I quilt holly in borders, blocks, and as an all-over design on many Christmas quilts.

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:



The finished pattern:

The hints:

• 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.

Next week's designs will all be based on loops!