July's Free Motion Quilting Challenge

 This month our teacher for the Free Motion Quilting Challenge is Angela Walters, a young modern quilter whose lesson was a design she calls "Tiles" in which you divide the quilting space into smaller units and quilt each one before moving on to the next.
I had fun practicing this style until my machine began to act a little like it is in need of some TLC.  So although I wanted to do more practicing before coming up with a "final" piece, my machine is packed up and ready to visit the sewing machine spa for a little R&R.
So here are my samples for July.  I started by using the back of a plaid fabric that I thought would help me keep my lines straight.  Not so much.
And instead of using the same pattern in every "tile" as Angela did, I mixed it up and tried different ones, including some of the motifs taught by previous teachers in this challenge.

 I did quilt in the month and a heart in hand.  Okay, for a first attempt, not too bad. For this sample I used regular 60 weight thread in the needle and bobbin.

 Then I switched to Superior Rainbows thread in the needle with The Bottom Line in the bobbin.  I like this look much better.  I used a 90/14 quilting needle and did not have any problems, although I did have to decrease the top tension.  I didn't follow Angela's tile directions, just divided the space with random lines.

 For the last two samples, I did attempt Angela's swirl motif, using the Rainbows thread again. 

The Final Four

 I think that if my machine hadn't gotten tired, I would have done a few more samples and improved on my spacing and the straightness of the tile lines (or maybe not.)
This lesson was fun to do and helped me to learn a little about dividing the quilting space into manageable sized areas.
Thanks, Angela, for sharing your expertise and ideas.