Hi ,

I've got a question for you today: Do you free motion quilt every week or every day?

I ask because Josh shared some great insight this week in his Beginner Quilting Tip #6. After a full week of no quilting time, Josh notice a huge difference in his ability to free motion quilt.

He couldn't remember all the little things he'd learned like how to place his hands on the block with the right pressure to move smoothly, and where to put his foot on the pedal for the best speed control.

Simply put - Josh needs to practice more often! All those little physical details like how to place your hands and foot, what speed feels the most comfortable, and what direction to move into - you can pick these details up quickly, but they're very easy to forget if you aren't quilting daily or at least weekly.

Consistent practice is definitely the key to mastering free motion quilting.

So if you've been struggling to get the hang of free motion quilting, or you're feeling frustrated by your progress, try to find just 10 minutes a day to hop on your machine and stitch something in free motion.

Looking for inspiration for what to quilt? One place to start would be to quilt along with me and try the new design that's been posted to the Free Motion Quilting Project!

This week I posted this beautiful flowing flower design called Daisy Echo. This might look complicated, but with a little practice, I know you can master it!

Josh gave Daisy Echo a try too, so here's what it might look like the first time you try it:

No, this isn't perfect, but with a bit more practice and repetition of this design, Josh will definitely get the hang of it and be ready to quilt this design on a real quilt.

 Repetition is key so if you're looking for a simple way to practice every day, try stitching out our weekly design every day for a week and see what happens. Chances are by the end of the week you will see an amazing change to your quilting ability, and have mastered a fun design to use on your quilts.

So that's it for this week! Next week we'll be launching our first embroidery CD and a new pattern for next year's Free Motion Quilt Along so keep an eye out for the newsletter coming your way Wednesday morning.

Let's go quilt,

Leah Day