Quilting Randomly

I finally finished basting my big quilt.

Now I'll have to quilt it. I haven't free-motion quilted anything in a long time so I'm going to do a few warm up projects first. And practice on paper.

I dug this cupcake out of my fabric drawer. It was from the June 2009 quilt shop hop. It's is only 8 inches square. Layering the backing, batting and top and basting took under 5 minutes. I wish they could all be done that quickly.

First, I outlined the cupcake. I am really out of shape for free-motion quilting - the thread broke a few times and the stitch size is way too small.

Then I moved on to the stippling. I started getting more comfortable and the stitch size improved. My hands remembered how to move the fabric to stipple and my brain engaged.

I've been blogging about stitching and knitting randomly and it clicked that stippling is quilting randomly. I do the same random things. If you start repeating the same pattern the stipple doesn't look right - it has to be random.

This isn't random - it's the same thing over and over again. But, I like it and use it in small borders.

Here's an early attempt at stippling.

It's not right. Whenever you find yourself getting into a pattern you have to veer off into another direction or turn and inside loop into an outside loop.

This is getting closer to random. However, I kept working myself into a corner and had to restart.

A little more practice on 2 wall hanging size quilts and by then I should be back in shape.

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Erica's Stitches

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