cpcarolyn

Nice quilt. Safty pins and a walking foot help alot.

Emma S

Your quilt is beautiful. Don't give up. The advice given should help you complete your quilt. Every quilter seems to have their favorite methods. I thread baste my layers but want to try the glue method. When you get your walking foot, it lends itself very well to straight line quilting as does the pattern you chose. Just start at the edges and create a grid, either diamond shape or square. It looks good and is a great first time method.
The only other thing I would suggest is don't roll your quilt, puddle it. Rolling makes the quilt even more unwielding.

Buckeye Rose

You have a beautiful quilt....so don't give up and send it to the LA. YOU CAN DO IT! You don't have to get rid of the minkee, batting or anything else. The pins are going to be a pain in the butt, but the alternative is to swap them all out for safety pins, or start over and use spray basting or elmer's glue (my personal favorite and it works fine with minkee). As another poster has said, don't roll the excess quilt...just puddle it around the sewing area and keep the excess from pulling....I use an ironing board to the left of my machine and flop all the excess up there. I would also mark straight lines in a grid and do some starter lines farther apart to kind of anchor the quilt pieces in place. Once you decide on a plan of attack, we will be here to help you with the little details!

littlebitoheaven

All of the above tips are what I would have told you. The one thing that I do if I use my ironing board as an extension table is (ironing board has a wood top 29" x 59" & it still goes up and down). The ironing board is covered with muslin so I cover it with a small plastic tarp so that the quilt slides easily over it. One other tip when FMQ is to throw the length of the quilt, which would normally be in your lap, over your shoulder. This holds the weight and makes it easier to move the quilt under the presser foot. FMQ on a small machine is a slow process. I spray baste and I learned from a teacher on Craftsy to SID around my borders before I quilt the center of the quilt. I did this and it worked well. There is almost no shifting of fabric when you spray baste. Good luck!

I also make my outer border larger than I want it and then I trim it when I am squaring up my quilt. This saves me some headaches when finishing my quilt.

IQ2

I had a quilting instructor who suggested scrunching up the sides instead of rolling, to make the quilt more flexible when pushing through the throat. I tried it recently and it helped a lot. (I like the way you called it a "heavy log"! That's what reminded me of that tip.)

quiltmom04

This is what I would suggest - to make your work easier and look better. If you can take out the stitching you've already done, I would do that first. Then as others have suggested, if you really have to use the minky fabric,which I would advise against in that large of quilt, then get rid of the batting. I generally only use fabrics like the minky for a lap size that's easier to handle. If you can use a cotton backing instead, do that. Then repin using 1" safety pins. You won't get jabbed, and they stay where you put them. And if I'm being totally honest in what I would do, I probably would take out the stitching I already did and send it to the long armer. Your top is beautiful, and excellent quilting will highlight that. Good luck.

ShirlinAZ

Don't feel too badly. I started out using straight pins too, until I learned about the curved safety pins. Huge improvement. I also started out rolling the ends toward the middle. There weren't many instructions in those days, and that's what they said to do. Now I just puddle the quilt loosely in my lap and all around the sewing machine, stopping to straighten the quilting area as I go. Keep working at it. You obviously have the will, and you will quickly find your own way. Your quilt is beautiful.

MadP

I would replace straight pins with safety pins. Use something different for backing. Buy my walking foot and you should be ready to go.

Jakers1

I would also have a chair next to the machine to hold the bulk of the quilt. I put binding on two quilts and used that hint. It really helped distributing the weight.

maviskw

You've got a lot of choices here. But I would take it apart, get rid of the batting, and glue the front to the minky. Someone else on this thread said that would work. Then you will have a piece that acts like a single piece of fabric. Now do those things with the tension, presser foot walking foot, slider...and whatever until you get what you want.

Good luck! You have a beautiful quilt. It's worth a little extra work to get it right.