Free Motion Quilting on a Short Arm

I bought a quilt frame and a domestic machine for free motion quilting a few years ago, set it up and let it sit there for a while, maybe a little longer than most normal people would let it sit...I would throw some practice fabric on it once in a while and not be happy with the results.

Practice fabric, the blue tape is as far as the machine reaches, it's under 8 inches, it makes quilting beautiful designs hard.

I couldn't get a good flow making feathers, I was up down over around and back up again...it was so aggravating.

I just couldn't get a feel for moving the machine, where to look and how to keep my stitches even.

I would talk about my difficulties with long arm quilters and decided that the machine was too small, I made a bad purchase that I was stuck with, so it sat some more.  In the mean time my Mom bought a lovely 18" long arm and took off quilting lovely projects the day it was put together! She is a very talented artist and can do just about anything, I have a lot to live up to!! I am so lucky to have a long arm at my disposal, to use whenever my Mom isn't using it, but I had invested a bit of money on the sad lonely machine in my own craft room, and really needed to give my machine a real effort. 

So I kept putting quilts on it and finally I started to improve, I bought the Craftsy class Machine Quilting Negative Spaces with Angela Walters, and something clicked...she made sense and broke down each step and quilt design, her quilting isn't perfect, but she just keeps on going, no excuses or negativity, and I thought I can do this! So I put more practice fabric on the frame and I was actually happy with what I saw! Yahoooooo....I was so happy!! Thank you Angela!!

Look at that feather...I feel less erratic and out of control.

Now don't get me wrong...it still ain't perfect, but it's improvement and maybe even a little bit good! I would love to be able to do a beautiful feather, I'm still working on that, but I can see progress and improvement and that is all I can ask for. 

My latest project, I actually am proud of this quilting!

I attempted leaves and swirls/waves with satisfaction. Now I just need to learn not to get stuck in a corner!

The biggest change I noticed was in my attitude, the equipment is still the same, but my willingness to embrace the imperfections, laugh at the mistakes, and my determination to keep trying have yielded the improvement! Practice makes perfect, or in my case presentable, yes, practice make presentable!! My new mantra! After all, if you want perfect, Kmart has a blanket waiting just for you, if you want a quilt made by hand with love, find a quilter!

Go make something!

Nini~