Getting a project quilted has been my least favorite part of quilting, but it isn't done till it's quilted  so.....

I have been playing with different ways of quilting on my machine and have discovered a continuous design I really like that isn't too hard.

Free motion teardrop quilting

It helps immensely to practice on paper first so that the movement comes naturally, like when you write your name. I practiced filling 20 or so pages with this teardrop design before trying it on fabric with my machine.

Practice on paper

To quilt, start with a new needle in your machine, drop your feed dogs and put the free motion foot on.

free motion foot



Start at one corner and start moving your quilt sandwich under your needle making the teardrops and loops. Don't worry if your movements are jerky at first, they will become smoother with practice. It is better to go faster and not make the shapes perfect than going slowly. When you move your fabric too slowly, you make get "bird nests" on the underside of your quilt.  You may have to adjust your tension a bit, so that the stitches are balanced. If you find that there are loops on top of your fabric, try loosening the top tension. If you have pretty good stitches in the straighter areas and in the curves the top thread pulls the bottom thread up, try slowing down some through the curves.

I used this quilting pattern to quilt the back of this stocking using Michael Miller Christmas fabrics.