JoanneS

The blocks are 4-1/2" finished. I embroidered the designs on-point. The designs in the pieced blocks are 4-1/2 " x 4-1/2". The ones in the white blocks are approx. 3-1/2 x 3-1/2. I say approx, because 4D figures out what size to make them for the space I choose for them, so I don't have to do it! I wanted the central oval as big as possible in the pieced blocks, so that I would have room on the back for the labels. I wanted more 'space' around the ones in the white blocks.

The embroidery didn't shrink the quilt. That may be because it was already sandwiched. It measures the same after embroidering/quilting as it did before!

patdesign

Were these blocks with batting and backing or just he pieced top. I have an embroidery machine and plan to use it to quilt the center square of a block I am working on, but I want it to show to the back too, so I am layering all three like a quilt as you go. Like what you did.

JoanneS

That's how I did it - hoop, but no stabilizer. Get it as smooth as you can in the hoop - and make sure the quilt is NOT pulling on the outside of the hoop. In other words, you sort of push the quilt TOWARD the outside of the hoop before you start embroidering.

Minnisewta

I have the Bernina BSR but can't say that I love it as yet. My biggest problem is the arm is too short for me to move around enough to make it look nice. Most of the time I do straight lines across my quilts.

patdesign

This is the BEST site, I downloaded some designs and they were too big for my hoop, I emailed them and they reduced the designs to the smaller size, I downloaded them and that was at NO ADDITIONAL COST! They have a customer for life, plus you can download designs and when you go to your purchase history, you can download anything you have purchased again and again, even the free ones, and speaking of free ones, they have some really nice designs.

patdesign

Lovely quilt, did you do it as the whole quilt or individual blocks, If you did it a s the whole quilt, HOW?

JoanneS

Lovely quilt, did you do it as the whole quilt or individual blocks, If you did it a s the whole quilt, HOW?[/quote]

I sandwiched the whole quilt with basting spray, safety pinned the edges, then used the smallest hoop that would fit the design. For the borders, I used my continuous hoop - it's easier to maneuver, but you can't use it anywhere but borders. It's a lap-sized quilt, so it wasn't a problem to stuff the quilt in the throat of my SM.

BizyStitches

I've used my embroidery machine for a long time for quilting. It is so much easier. Good luck

Davida

Wow thanks everyone i was ready to find another hobby because i could never quilt my tops. I refused to send out to long arm because i would rather spend that money on fabric. I am now motivated to use embroidery machine and keep practing FMQ. THANKS

MsSewer

I have a Husqvarna embroidery machine and used it to embroider a quilt instead of quilting it. The quilt was a square in a square set on point with plain blocks and sashing between the blocks. I got a pattern (very open) from the Emb. Library. I just embroidered the plain blocks and used a solid color as backing. Now it looks nice front and back. I didn't use any stabilizers.