Machine Quilting - hard but fun!

I took a free-form machine quilting class to learn to "sandwich" together my quilt tops with batting in between and a backing fabric. We made 3 plain muslin quilt sandwiches to practice with, and after the teacher showed us a bunch of her quilts to explain the different techniques, she had us draw out the various patterns we were going to try. We doodled in the various styles, including stippling (a free-form type of scrawl that never crosses over itself, like loopy puzzle pieces), loops and hearts, loops and stars, spiral-y daisies, and vines of leaves. Then finally, we sat down to our machines to play.From the front
I initially had some threading and tension issues, but I sorted them out for the most part, although it will definitely be a guessing game for a while until I get the feel for it.From the back (bobbin side)

I was surprised at the feel - so different from piecing! I actually felt pretty exhilarated by how unstructured it was, and how fast we had to work to get the rounded edges. I felt pretty proud at accomplishing each of the shapes, even if they were nowhere as nice as the teachers. I'm sure someday I'll look back at these practice scraps I'm so excited about and feel embarrassed, like I do about the first block I ever made. I think my favorite were the vines and the spiral daisies. I want to practice this again tomorrow when I go over to quilt - I also need to start putting my sashings on my quilt top so I can finish it and start a new project! I love quilting =)

Heart

Spiral Flower