August Free Motion Quilting Challenge

This month the Free Motion Challenge was to stitch a design called "Jester's Hat" and the lesson was by Wendy Sheppard. The design looks so cute and I thought it would be fun. 
But it was H A R D!!!
Part of my problem is that I love to quilt swirls, and my brain kept wanting to launch into what it enjoys/knows to do, instead of learning something new!
I figured out during my many sketching attempts that I couldn't seem to fill in the space as easily as with other designs (like the heart shaped leaves or the loops and stars) and I did not seem to be able to keep the scale of the design consistent. 
But I could draw it across the page one way and then come back, so I went with that as a plan!
Over to the machine...

Unfortunately my Brother sewing machine is broken and away at the "spa", so I had to use my back up Janome machine. The small bed is harder to quilt on and I couldn't find my extension table. Shheesh!
But the quilting stitch on this machine was okay so I went ahead and tried my best. I stitched across and back, kind of on a diagonal and it looked okay. There were a  couple of crossovers, and unevenly spaced parts, but I give myself an 'A' for effort! And I am sure that the design would improve with more practice...or I could just blame the machine, but I'm sure it is operator error!!
To see other attempts at this month's challenge, hop over to SewCalGal.