Thank You Leah Day and Laga Lady

Free motion work is a bit of a leap into the unknown.  Not only do you have to get used to the fact that the machine can work in any direction, also, if you use only vintage machines, you have to shake off the notion that only modern fancy machines can do it.

It is about three years ago that I started looking on the internet at what was possible with vintage machines.  Imagine my delight on realising that I had the right model of treadle sitting in the house all along - it just needed a good clean up.

Then I discovered the wonderful Leah Day, the undisputed Queen of Free Motion Quilting.  There are too many patterns on her blog for me to try out in the years I have left to me.  Leah was wise - she started young.

Leah's Youtube videos are fantastic.  They show you everything you need to know about
how to move your hands and manage the movement of the work through the machine.  

Leah took care of the hands, but treadling is equally about the feet.

This is the lady to watch, doing free motion embroidery for handbags.  Her feet do not stop, she just keeps on going at an even speed.  She's so good at it she can take her eyes off her work and look up and smile at people.

Leah Day and the anonymous Laga Lady clinched it.  Between them they launched me into free motion quilting on the treadle.