Jumping on the bandwagon...

Today we had a much needed day at home. Much needed because I will confess that for a week now I have been turning a blind eye to the 5 loads of clean washing on my bedroom floor waiting to be folded & put away, the 3 loads waiting to be washed, and then the rest...
You know - all the normal stuff like sultana bran coated floors, toothpaste lined sinks and toy strewn house etc etc.

It feels like yesterday that I dealt with all that boring stuff, but apparently 4 people living in a house; 2 of whom are under 3 feet tall, and a fluffy four legged 3rd child, all make quite a lot of mess & grot!
So today I ran around like a looney and dealt with said mess & grot. Only to have it grubby again by the time the 2 biggest mess makers had finished their lunch *sigh... but at least it was done and dealt with for another few days.

So after that run of boring housework I decided to reward myself with something I've been wanting to try for a while.
You know when everyone else in blogland seems to be doing something that looks fun and you can't help but want to have a try?
Or is that just me?
For a little while it was rainbow zippers - everybody seemed to want a piece of rainbow zippers, lovely things that they are too I must say. Still enjoy using mine :)

Anyway, more recently it seems that everybody is practising their free-motion quilting!
My good friend Cindy of Fluffy Sheep Quilting recently hosted a free motion practice along. It looked so fun and I would have just loved to have a go, but life & work was just way too crazy.
But now alas I have some more time - so today that was my challenge - to do a little free-motion quilting practice...

First I tried some feathers:

To start with I just practiced a little of what I assumed you did to make these on paper & then got started on my fabric.
Only tonight after the girls bedtime, after I was totally unimpressed at my first efforts, did I bother to youtube some tutorials and find out I was doing it all wrong.
Doh!
So I'll try again the "correct" way soon and see if I can get it mastered... improve a little...

Then to reassure myself that I had something I could do I went for a loopy pattern....

I often use loopy patterns and have so far done them on entire quilts either just with loops, loops with hearts & loops with stars. I thought that I'd never done loops with flowers before which is why I tried this today, but as I write this I realise that actually I have done loops with flowers before over an entire quilt, so that probably explains why I found them easier!

So I gave myself another challenge. Circular things.
And oh boy did these give me a test!!
Again I was just taking the method off a drawing, so I actually have no idea if I was doing these right either, but lets just say that it took me about 3 sheets of paper before I had my head even slightly wrapped around the pattern enough to try it on fabric...

Improvement definitely possible but overall I quite like how it came out.

I think I'd definitely benefit from cutting my practise squares bigger though. I always always find the edges the hardest, so when dealing with such a small piece & essentially 4 edges I really do find it a challenge.

Anyway, think I'll go practise some more. Might try those feathers again & see how I can do this time...

If you're also interested in jumping on the bandwagon then my fellow Perth sand dweller Laura from Quokka Quilts will be hosting an upcoming free-motion quilt along early in the new year, so head on over to Laura's and check out the deets. I'll be joining in for sure :)