Free Motion Quilting Practise

I recently bought myself a darning foot for my sewing machine and I've been trying my hand at a bit of free motion quilting.

My first attempts were not too bad, but somehow the tension was wrong.

See all those turquoise spots and the way that the top thread sits on top of the fabric?

I initially assumed that it was my fault (bad hand/foot coordination) but I later decided that little fingers must have moved the tension dial on my machine (grrr!) Once I altered the tension dial, everything fell into place. I have now used a marker pen on my machine to mark the correct position so that if wee fingers start fiddling again, I can easily spot it and sort the problem!

 Its not perfect yet, but I'm making definite progress and I'm getting excited about the possibilities!

The quilting is over a cute wee paper pieced apple.

Even in this half finished state, I'm seriously loving this and wishing it was for me, but unfortunately I have to give it away... hmmm I wonder if I have enough fabric to make another one for myself... (maybe the Free Motion Quilting will even be a bit less wonky, but I must admit that I think that the wonkiness adds a certain charm, don't you?!)

Have you entered my awesome Fabrichicks giveaway yet?