FMQ Friday

Round 2 of the FMQ...I didn't get a chance to post my progress last week, so I've combined them into one long one, so prepare yourself...

I am really enjoying playing around with free motion quilting. I've always wanted to be good at it, but never really wanted to take the time to practice. Now I actually find myself looking forward to it. Weird, right?

Last Week's:

This week I made one small change but it made a huge difference for me. Ready for it? I slowed down my machine! I know, every one of you has already done it, but since I cannot seem to get my foot off that pedal I decided to try it. My machine has three speed settings and I found that medium was my optimal speed.

So, this week's pattern was "Slate Tile" from the Free Motion Quilting Project:

I was positive that I would be awful at this pattern. Curvy, swirly designs just seem so much easier, but honestly, I think I did better on this one than the curvy patterns I've tried before.

Here is my first attempt:

and the second...

 I did much better on the rows where I moved from the left side of the fabric to the right. For some reason when I was going the other direction I was very inconsistent about the way I made the square and retraced the same lines more than once. Weird.

Now for this week's pattern...

Bright Star

Seems pretty simple, right?

Maybe not. Really, it wasn't too bad, but I keep stopping before I get to the edge of the box and my traveling stitches leave a little to be desired.

No idea what was going on over there on the right....

On these first two, I left my feed dogs up after reading some people say that works better for them. I didn't have any problems doing it this way, but it seemed a little smoother with them down. Not sure it made too much of a difference, but on the third try I put them down...

Maybe a little better??

Now, if you want to see some professional FMQ-ers, check out Cindy's link-up at FMQ Fridays on Fluffy Sheep Quilting.