Stop, Drop and Roll, part 8.4

Welcome to week 8 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.

Week 5: We practiced some C curve quilting patterns.

Week 6: We practiced some loopy quilting patterns.

Week 7: We practiced some S curve quilting patterns.

This week, all of the free-motion quilting patterns are based on a swirl.

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 TU31 Evergreen.
For the bobbin thread, I used DecoBob. by WonderFil, color DB501 Evergreen.

The video:
Today's free-motion quilting pattern is inspired by the view from my sewing room. The entire hillside is covered with ferns. This design combines the fiddlehead and the fern.

Grab some scrap fabric sandwiches and practice this design:



The finished pattern:

The hints:

• When I need to stop the machine, I stop in a corner or where two patterns overlap. 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.

That was the last design! Pick a few and quilt your quilt!