Finished quilting some of the NICU quilts

These are the first two NICU quilts.  I am using these quilts to practice different designs.  I am trying to improve my rhythm, flow and coordination.

For this first quilt, I quilted continuous curves in the light squares.  When I first started quilting, I used to use rulers to do this design.  They always turn out perfect, however "perfect" is not required and it takes more time to do.  I am getting better at doing them freehand.  I'd go so far as saying that they are "good enough" for a real quilt.  The only tricky part is remembering that I am doing a continuous curve design and not the Terry twist design......lol.  I love the Terry twist design and the movement it creates.

For the dark squares, I did a new to me design.  It's called a curly bracket.  You'd find it on your keyboard above the square bracket.  It's the one with a curve that goes out into a point, and back again.  

This one is a bit tricky to get correct consistently.  So long as I am concentrating on the motion, I do good.  I recite to myself curl out/dip in/point out/dip in/curl back in, all in a small 2" space.  If I loose concentration, they start to look like just a point outward.  I'll be honest, there were more than a few that looked more like outward points.......lol.  Overall, I really like this new design for a grid.  I will have to practice this one more, so that it becomes second nature to me.

Lastly, on the border I tried a freehand vine.  I marked my quilt with a 2" grid stencil and chalk pounce pad to section off the border.  The middle line was my guide for the stem of the vine and the 2" long squares on either side, were to make my leaves consistent within the space.  The leaves are not all the same size or shape, but that is ok.  

While making the leaves, I was trying out different movements.  I found that I work better if I start the first leaf by doing the over motion, to curve up the top of the leaf, and finish it coming down the bottom of it.  I tried up/down, down/up, right/left, left/right.  Everyone has there own method which creates their own rhythm.  By the end, I think I found what works best for me.  I am going to work on this simple leaf design again and next time I will only use the one method to practice consistency. 

Progress, progress, progress.  All is good.

For this quilt of different coloured squares, I had a pantograph design I wanted to do.  It is a simple design that came with the Quilt Path system called knobs.  I overlapped the design and changed the size of it, compared to the first one I did.  It's ok, but I do prefer the skinner/longer version of my first attempt at this design.  So, I did learn something on this one too.

I've enjoyed quilting and practicing on these small quilts.  Wait until you see the next two.