Free Motion Quilting Practice

So I managed to get a bit of practice in today free motion quilting. It didn't go all that well, but I did learn a few things along the way! For example, make sure you lower the presser foot before you start sewing, otherwise this happens:

As soon as I worked it out it all made sense why the sewing machine was making a hideous clunky grindy noise! So I put the presser foot down and all was well. It's kind of annoying that the free motion foot doesn't look any different when it is down to when it is up, so I may have made the same mistake again later on in the practice session! 

So I attempted to do a wood grain effect type thing but I'm not sure it looks right...I don't know what it is about it that I don't like but I think I will try a few other ways to do it before I do the real thing.

Maybe the lines need to be wavier than they are? I did this whole bit and then realised that I had forgotten to cover the feed dogs. I put the cover on to do the little "detail" parts and then the tension went all screwy so I don't like the way those bits look at all. 

I decided to have a play with the tension and do what I've seen on other blogs where you mark the fabric with the tension for each piece of sewing and ended up with this:

I think I'm probably going to end up having the tension between 3 and 4 as those are the ones that look the best.

One thing I really wished as I was doing all this was that I had one of those machines where you can program it to stop with the needle down. It would have made it so much easier!! Also I wish it had a speed control thingy so I could set it to a medium speed and it wouldn't matter if I accidentally pressed too hard on the foot pedal!

This took me about an hour to do so goodness knows how long the real thing will take me! Although I did have to mess about changing the presser foot over and then back again at the end so that Muv can use the sewing machine. I did also have to take the little metal plate thing off when I forgot to lower the presser foot (again) and ended up with a huge tangle stuck under it!

After I'd done I decided to take photos straight away so I wouldn't forget so I laid it out nicely on my bed and this happened:

So after I'd finished with the photos I folded it up and gave it to him as a pillow! At least he appreciates my efforts :)