Keeping it real here....

A quick progress shot of my machine quilting. I haven't done a lot of free-motion quilting so I still feel as if I have 'learners plates' on my sewing machine this week. I decided on a squiggly lines diagonally across the actual coloured string blocks. I'm using coordinating machine embroidery threads some are just one colour and some are variegated. With all this practice I can actually see some progress and when my lines are nice and straight and my stitches are a more even size my confidence grows. It's hard work though man handling a large-ish quilt while trying to keep my lines straight and my curves nice and smooth. Free-motion quilting is definitely much easier on little pieces like cushion covers but I'm getting there :-)

And this pretty stack of Nicey Jane fabrics is keeping me motivated to finish quilting my string quilt sooner rather than later. I've had these fabrics quite a while now just waiting for that perfect project but when I bought a copy of  " The Farmers Wife" last September I decided they would be perfect for this quilt along. This is going to be one of my long term projects this year and I think it will be nice to have something that I can work on at my leisure with no deadlines.