Skittl1321

I meander on almost all the charity quilts I quilt because it is fast.

On my own quilts I like to use fillers. In fact, I enjoy quilting MUCH more than piecing. I don't do much continuous line though.

QuiltE

So why not do it on your charity quilts ... yes meandering is faster, but the more you practice the fancier styles, the more accomplished you can become .............. and quicker too!

Skittl1321

Because on my quilts a 12" square can take me 8 hours; that is my entire weekend of quilting.

Charity quilts tend to be 48-60" squares. Even assuming I quilt less densely (because dense fillers are not good on lap quilts) I'm not spending 20+ hours on a charity quilt. I try to quilt 10+ a month for my guild (about 30 minutes to 1 hour each): too few people even offer to quilt them. If I took 3 months a quilt, we'd never get any donated. Nor would I have any time at all to work on my own quilts.

QuiltE

I see ... so they are not all your charity quilts, but you do the LAQ for the tops others have prepared.

Skittl1321

I don't do long arm quilting. I free motion on a domestic machine. (There is another myth: FMQing is not necessarily LAQing).

I have as much ownership in the quilt as the person who made the top, and so does the person who later does the binding. Each person in the chain has to have some ownership in it, or pride in worksmanship is lost. But no, I do not piece the tops.

SueSew

That mattress pad look (shudder) is because of the constant repetition of a pattern (or lack thereof) in an all-over design. Looks like a computer program did it, for better or worse.

That said, my own quilting skills are such that I simply cannot shove and prod and smoosh my quilt through my DSM along the lines of a marked pattern. Baptist fans?! Hah. I have trouble following a simply curve. No matter how many times I read Gaudinski and Hargreaves and try, try, try, I end up with something fit for the cloth recyling basket.

So everything I do in decorative FQM is freehand. Sunbursts, ocean waves, stars, doodles, meanders and stipples.

SueSew

Holice, if you would like to see some totally unique and extraordinary but not at all traditional FMQ done on a DSM, go to http://www.e-quilterscorner.com/qc_newsletter/ and check the fall 2013 newsletter for the Star Wars quilt.

People aren't all meandering, but some may have shaken off their feathers.

Caroline in Mo.

I love that I learned to free motion.At first I just did meandering or stippling,and still do it for some things if I'm in hurry,but I love outlining flowers and objects,or adding different designs and am getting better as I go.It's like doodling with thread! Fun stuff!!

QuiltE

My apologies for seemingly touching a nerve here

Yes, I know that FMQing is also done on a DSM ... that's what I do, and honestly, I have no interest in owning a LA. Perhaps a S16 or similar, but not a full out LA.

So nice that so many of you can work together to create these quilts for charity.

raedar63

It is the discussions like these that takes it all out of me .....
Simple pleasures become never good enough chores !