Free motion quilting exercises

I couldn't resist Amy's call for the Table Top swap round 3 for fabric baskets based on a tutorial by Ayumi. I had wanted to try making one of her long basket for a while so it seemed a perfect excuse to sign up for the swap.

The tutorial is really well explained and the basket go together quickly. Because there are small pieces, I thought they would be ideal to practice my free motion quilting with new stitches. So I headed over to the free motion bible - read Leah's blog - for inspiration.
The first stitch I picked is called "Bare branches" for my first sample

This is based on straight lines and is quite easy to do. I like the effect. The back is showing the quilting better:

 



The second stitch is based on stippling and paisley, it is my own combination I think

and on the back:

The third one is called "Gentle Flame"

and the back

Gentle flame was probably my favourite in terms of the effect. I stitched it using my walking foot.

The fourth one is called "Snake Paisley" and was the stitch from last week free-motion quilt-along on Leah's blog so I'll be linking back to hers

and the back

and the fifth one I picked is "Cucumber Vine", the stitch echo the pattern on the fabric I picked too.

and the back

And now the 5 finished baskets.

One of them is on its way to my swap partner in America...
These little baskets will be my 5 OPAM for September!
Celine