Old Dog, New Trick

I am continuing to participate in a year-long series of tutorials on free-motion quilting.  SewCalGal, one of the most energetic web-bloggers ever, is offering monthly opportunities to learn new skills.  

The April lesson shows a new technique for quilt marking that is going to make my quilting life much easier!  My progress below:

 I traced the printed design on a piece of tulle (sheer net fabric also called 'illusion') with a permanent fine-line marker.  The tulle is then stretched in an embroidery hoop.  

Next, I used a SewLine ceramic marking pencil to trace over the design lines, thus marking a piece of cotton fabric.  

The pink lines will wash out later.
This sample was next layered with batting and a piece of backing fabric.  I used a spray basting product to hold the layers together.  

 Here is the stitched sample.  I added an additional line of stitching around the design and did some stippling.  I find the stippling very difficult and will switch over to a more formal 'fill' such as 'bouncing bananas.'  Once the pink lines are washed out, my errors--not following the lines precisely--will be less obvious.
I need to practice this again.

 A closer view.

This month has been very busy, and it is only half over!  Quilting time has been limited.  The ideal would be at least 20 minutes a day of practice; well, no--the ideal would be eight hours a day of quilting-related activity, to include practice, warm-up, and quilting on my current project as well as progress on my many other quilts-in-the-making.  
A gal can dream, can't she?