Dogs-gone Zigzagging

This is my first foray into FMZ (Free Motion Zigzagging). I transferred a pattern of the Japanese character for "love" 愛　to onionskin paper to stabilize the piece. The stabilizing paper has not yet been torn away from the portions inside the stitching; I thought it might show up better in the picture with the paper still there. 

        

          As with normal FMQ (Free Motion Quilting), the feed dogs are lowered/disengaged and a darning foot or free motion foot is used. The stitch width, however, is what makes this differ. Check with your foot on how wide you may safely set the width. When stitching, moving the zigzag up and down gives the widest stitches, and side to side makes a narrow line. If you move the fabric slowly, you can obtain a satin stitch. Faster movement makes for "sketchier" strokes of the thread.With practice this could be used like a chisel tipped marking pen.
          This technique could be used for quick freehand appliqué. Our local instructor, Sandy, shared a link with us that gives a short tutorial video on this, illustrating both the technique and applications of it.

The "wrong side" has the reverse of the character, but I like how the quilting looks like pen and ink; reminds me of the Japanese manga (graphic drawings).

  The back of the block turned out to be my favorite, but since the letter is not the same in reverse, I'll need to do another some day using a solid background. I think the white fabric with black quilting gives it a real pen and ink feel. Look closely and you'll see my tension was not set correctly, as there were so very many "eyelashes" on the curves. Still, it gives it that cartoon look.

Finished and waiting for a frame.