FMQ Friday #1 -- Quilting My Little Pink Dress Mini Quilt

Holy Moly! I quilted it. I don't think I ruined it. I'm still in shock I actually did it.

Little Pink Dress Quilt

I've been so nervous to quilt anything I've painstakingly pieced together afraid I would ruin it with my quilting. I have several projects just waiting for quilting, but I'm so scared to take that step. Monday, I finally took the plunge. I'm so happy I did. I can't stop smiling over the fact I have it quilted.

Because I'm a bit anal retentive, I had to practice several more times before I actually did it.

Little Pink Dress Quilt Practice

And one practice block wasn't enough for me. I did a second practice. The second piece I took the time to copy out the dress and purse on the practice block and quilted around it.

Little Pink Dress Quilt Practice

One thing I didn't count on was the fact I could SEE my stitching when I practiced (grey thread on yellow fabric.) However, when I quilted the block I had to really concentrate because I could barely see the stitching--Apparently, I did an excellent job of picking out thread color. 

I kept freaking out and tensing up. I had to keep reminding myself to BREATHE!

I kept remembering what my first FMQ (Free Motion Quilting) teacher told me about staying relaxed. I had such a hard time relaxing. I follow Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Blog, where she just keeps encouraging quilters to just start. And I did. I finally started. Phew! Check out her Friday FMQ Link-up.

Overall, I'm happy with it. And, I'm excited to try again with another project.

Now, I need to do the binding. Call me crazy, but I'm actually thinking of doing some type of scalloped or decorative binding.