mpspeedy2

As a handquilter I am inclined to have a bad vibe for machine quilting. As a person with an autoimmune disease that causes my shoulder and hip muscles to be weak I could not manage a bed size quilt on the sewing machine. I make about 20 Linus quilts a month, at least half of which are machine quilted. Just doing one of them, which is no larger than crib size wears me out. The only reason I machine quilt them is because I assume that the parent of the child who receives them will probably launder them excessively. There is much to be said for hand quilting in that by using a frame, either floor or lap, a lot of that weight is taken off of my arms. I can also handquilt while watching TV or sharing time with my family members. Because of using a floor frame at times I have developed the ability to quit with either hand. When machine quilting one has to pay attention to the machine and can't carry on a conversation etc. That makes it a solitary pastime.

quiltmom04

That's why I like free motion quilting. You can stitch in any direction and not have to wrestle the quilt around!

Zappycat

Wow! I give you credit for even trying! the whole process just scares me! Stick with it! And then post pictures!! I am learning so much just reading all these posts this morning.

Evie

Like Tartan, I've been trying straight line FMQ just because of the hassle of pushing and shoving and pulling a quilt through the small throat of my machine. I got the incentive after watching one of Leah Day's videos where she urged doing this to make the process easier. It really does!

KathyJ

When I FMQ on my domestic, I leave the feed dogs up, put on the darning/quilting/free motion foot (different brands call them different names), use my regular sewing foot & use the foot as a guide for the width of the seam. I have a Janome with a hopping foot that really helps.

Also, I only quilt a quarter of the quilt at a time, starting in the middle. I don't put any batting in except in the quarter where I am going to be quilting. That way, the quilt is not so heavy, easier to move around, and you're only working with one-quarter of it at a time. When that section is finished, I add batting to the next section, overlapping about 1" or so, begin where I left off & finish that section. The overlapped batting is hardly noticed.

Give these ideas a try but don't give up FMQ. It's a lot of fun when you find what works for you. I used sturdy plastic folding TV trays from Wal-Mart for extra support on the side of my machine. Good luck & post when you're finished. Kathy

MargeD

Don't give up, although you are having some "obstacles" to overcome, by the time your quilt is finished you will have so much more expertise. Trust me - I learned so much machine quilting a king size quilt as my first quilt that I machine quilted. Don't give up.

DonnaPBradshaw

I've quilted a few big quilts on my domestic machine and it certainly is a challenge. I didn't even consider doing a pattern other than straight lines. Sorry that you have such a huge albatross around your neck!

orangeroom

Well, you can say that you tried something new. You may never do it again...Incidentally that's what I said years ago about the 8 pointed star, but things like that can sneak up on you. I made a carpenter's star the other day. Low and behold, guess what's in the middle? Yup, an 8 pointed star! Tricky little bugger!

Sometimes I cursive the quilts when I rent the LA at the LQS. Once all of the quilting that was done in my dd's quilt was ALL cursive! Good luck dear!

DJ

Been there ... done that ... stick with it! I won my battle.