Still practising.....

Last year I dedicated a lot of time to practising my free motion quilting and I was extremely pleased with the progress that I made.  So, I am sure you will understand that I am very keen not to lose touch with the techniques I have learned to date.

However, the only quilting I have done since the beginning of the year are two little practise quilts made as a result of Lori Kennedy's challenge at the end of one of her Craftsy classes.

That was until recently, when I decided to revisit another Craftsy class I have followed taught by Christina Cameli.  Previously, when I followed along with Christina's 'Wild Quilting' class I didn't have the confidence to try out some of the techniques she taught but, now that I am feeling much more capable with my free motion quilting, I decided to try out mixing together some of the different motifs to make a background quilt pattern.

I mixed together pebbles, spirals and leaves and I really like how they look together. I really love the texture.

They were a lot of fun to quilt too, so I shall definitely be trying out some more combinations of motifs.

I have also just received a copy this wonderful new book I ordered.  It is written by Lori Kennedy and is called 'Free Motion Machine Quilting 1-2-3'. It brings together over sixty of Lori's delightful quilting designs in one place. I can't wait to get back to my machine and try some of them out!!  In case you are wondering what happens to the practise pieces or, perhaps you have some practise pieces that you don't know what to do with, Lori has also just written a blog post with a nice idea how to use them up..... I think I may give this a try!