nativetexan

boy i did one years ago and don't remember how. did not fmq it though, i know that.

sak658

One of my Mother's favorite quilting design was the baptist fan...she used a piece of thing and a piece of regular chalk...as she finished one line, she would take her thumb and finger and go up on the string to make it shorter and mark the next quilting line...I watched her do this many times...and she would hand quilt quilts for people for $25...working on a quilt frame hung from the ceiling..I have several of her hand quilted quilts...which I treasure...I miss her so much, she lived to be almost 94 and had quilted her whole adult life...

quiltingbuddy

Your quilt looks great, and thanks for the information, especially that you would pre-baste so you don't get puckers. I'd like to know why the Circle Cut didn't work for you and how that is different from the one you bought special for the project.

carolynjo

Good for you that you are not going to try to use a walking foot.

jillmc

Linda, i started marking my quilt top with the circle ruler, and it was taking me forever. I just couldn't seem to get into a rythm. The stencil I purchased had little register marks and was much easier for me to use. Give your ruler a try though! You may find that it works great for you!

Taughtby Grandma

I use a very old method to mark my quilt if I'm doing the baptist fan. I have a pencil on a string. I hold one end firmly in place and draw the fan by pulling the pencil the distance I want the lines apart and draw an arc. I mark as many arcs as I want( a6-9) then move the string to the outside line edge straight across from the starting point and begin the arcs again. I have tied small knots in the string so I get even distances between the lines at times. The pencil has always washed out. If I was afraid it wouldn't, now I use frixion pens and have had no problem with them not washing out.

Bree123

Linda, so glad you already have what you need to mark it.
It wasn't clear from your post ... have you ever done FMQ before? If not, I'd definitely recommend getting a yard or 2 of scrap fabric & batting so you can practice first. I generally hear it takes about 8 hours of practice to learn to do basic FMQ designs ... that's probably about what it took me to get something even halfway decent. Going with a 8-10" design will help, but all the back and forth turns in the Baptist Fan design take a bit to get the hang of.

If I've assumed wrong & you are a practiced FMQ'er, please forgive me. I guess I've just seen too many posts on the Board from people who thought their expertise with the walking foot would translate to FMQ work ... and were intensely disappointed to find it is a whole different skill set.