Free-Motion Quilting
and the "AHA!" Moment

Can you ride a bike? Do you remember what it was like to learn?

Think about the last time you watched a kid learning to ride a bike. She spends quite a while -- maybe days or even weeks -- wobbling about, falling off, getting it wrong, and trying it again until finally that "AHA!" moment occurs when movement, speed and muscle memory all come together. Her body and brain exclaim "Oh THAT'S what you want us to do!" and off she goes riding. No more wobbling, ever. For the rest of her life she can ride a bike.

Learning to do free-motion quilting is a lot like learning to ride a bike. It can take a lot of wobbling before you finally get to that "AHA!" place where you can quilt confidently and beautifully.

But what if you could skip the wobbling? 

A little while ago I was at a quilt show demonstrating Free-Motion Mastery in a Month. I explained how tracing the Master Trainer along the patterns on the Tracing Sheets mimics the motions of quilting and builds muscle memory for that pattern before you even get to the sewing machine. I talked about learning to ride a bike and how a kid wobbles a lot before getting to the "AHA!" moment. And suddenly it hit me:

Using the Master Trainer and Tracing Sheets
eliminates the wobble! 
It starts you right at the "AHA!" moment.

Think about how much that could speed up your learning process . . . .

How does it work?

When you trace the dot of the Master Trainer along the pattern on a Tracing Sheet, you're moving exactly as you're going to move when you quilt that pattern at the sewing machine.  (Click here to see a video.) There's no trial and error, no wobbling around. You tell your body and brain "Hey, Body, Hey Brain, this is EXACTLY what I want you to learn to quilt." And they do. 

Here's something else: because your brain remembers everything you do, each time you do something wrong your brain remembers that wrong motion too. So, to train the muscle memory to do it right, not only do you have to do it right enough times, you also have to do it right enough times to erase all the times you did it wrong. So, using the Master Trainer and Tracing Sheets to skip the trial and error process -- the wobble -- really speeds you up learning free-motion quilting.

How many repetitions does it take?

At that same show where I had my epiphany, a lady came up to me and said "I have a really interesting statistic for you. I've been going to physical rehab, and my therapist told me that it takes 300 repetitions to train the muscle memory for a motion.  BUT, it takes 3000-5000 repetitions to UNLEARN an incorrect motion and RE-LEARN a correct one."

300 vs. 3000 -- Wow! Learning it right the first time takes only 1/10 of the time!

Here's another number: 30 days

Free-Motion Mastery in a Month gives you a step-by-step plan to master free-motion quilting in just 30 days. Just think - you could be quilting confidently by the end of the summer!

Isn't it time for you to stop wobbling and start quilting?

Happy quilting!  ~ RaNae

P.S. It's even more fun to learn with a friend -- share this discount code with as many friends as you wish!

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(Photo Credits: This image: Imgorthand / Header image: jivko)

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Copyright © 2019 RaNae Merrill
www.RaNaeMerrillQuilts.com