Doda

I'm a newbie, just started making quilt tops in September 09.
Have taken quilting classes at a LQS and have made 4 quilt tops. This may sound strange but they are just sitting pretty
in their separate bags. I AM AFRAID TO TRY AND QUILT THEM! Are there any other newbies out there with the same fear? And all of you expert veteran quilters, did you have this fear as well?
I've been reading about free motion quilting, bought a DVD that
instructs you on this method, read lots of books on it, and that's about it. No notion to get started. Can't afford to have
done for me. (my LQS does not offer classes on free motion quilting) Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thank you.

Lisa_wanna_b_quilter

I feel your pain! The quilting is the worst for me. I've done 3 tops and quilted two so far.

Quilt #1 I did in the Fun and Done way. It looks as good as could be expected since I had no clue what I was doing.

Quilt #2 is a bow tie pattern with alternating blank blocks. I just quilted X's across the blank blocks over the whole quilt. It looks pretty good, but certainly wasn't very brave of me.

Quilt #3 is a pinwheel with sashing between the blocks. It is pinned and ready to go, but I just can't get going.

All I can say is, you've got to take the plunge some day.

isnthatodd

If you have the time, try hand-quilting one. It goes slower, but it's easier to catch mistakes before they get too big. Pick an easy quilting pattern, use a big hoop, and go for it :!:

sunkistmi

Take one of them that has lots of straight lines and stitch in the ditch or stitch 1/4" away from the ditch on the side without the seam for easier stitching. I still have a hard time with FMQ but am told practice makes it better. Just make sure to start at the center and work out toward borders. Leave a couple of inches of batting & backing beyond the top since the quilting process with "take it up". Just go for it and we will all cheer you on.
Wendy

ranger

I,too,feel your pain.I've been quilting for a while and I still dread the actual quilting part. I have to force myself to do it. Like you,I have no place where I can take a class and I can't afford to have them sent out.

MadQuilter

First of all, pat yourself on the back that you have completed those tops. And welcome to the UFO group. lol

What patterns did you make? Do they have nice straight lines where you could do SID (Stitch in the ditch)? That would be my recommendation for you. Try SID. It is the method I use most, because I am still afraid of FMQing.

My first quilt that got SID'd was full of little puckers, because that was the best I could do at the time. The recipient loved it and still uses it. Nobody noticed the puckers. I still have trouble staying right in the ditch, so I renamed the stitch to MAD (Meandering around ditch)

So what is the worst that could happen? Common, you can do it. The key is do keep the sandwich taught and baste thoroughly. THere are some nice Youtube tutorials online to help show how to sandwich, what to consider when basting, how to pin......

My machine has a special foot for SID and that helped, but it is not necessary.

Now, if you have the money, you could find someone who rents Long-arm time and you can quilt it yourself on a longarm quilting machine. That eliminates a lot of the prep work. You just have to make sure that the batting and backing is large enough.

If you mess up, you can pick the stitches and start over - but I bet you'll do just fine.

redkimba

Bah! Just pick one & go for it.

I've grown up with family that quilts - quilt-tied quilts. I made a couple for folks who would be happy that it was done for them & wouldn't comment on the stitches.

go for it. :)

littlehud

I love the quilting but I still have that time where I wonder if I can do this quilt top. It's normal. Just jump in and start.

Lucky Patsy's

I often am too afraid to try something I am less familiar with, but every time it has happened, once I finally do it, it never turns out to be as hard as I expected. And I am usually chagrined that I just didn't dig in and do it straight off.

Try some smaller pieces first for practice and then pick your least favorite top and just go for it!

feline fanatic

My very first quilt top (a sampler). Sat for a year before I finally worked up the courage to try quilting it. I sandwiched and pinned it for machine quilting, knowing virtually nothing about it (didn't even own a walking foot!). Quilted one block and it looked awful. My machine was an old JC Penney workhorse but it did not like quilting and skipped stitches like crazy. So I pulled it out and just started plugging away handquilting it. Yes it took a long time but I just quilted it while watching TV taking frequent breaks from it. Since then I have hand quilted a total of 3 bedsize quilts and am currently working on my fourth. I have also hand tied 4 queen size T-shirt quilts. For a frame of reference, I took up quilting in 1990. Yes it takes a couple of years for me to handquilt a bed size quilt. I work with a lap hoop. However, I now find it difficult to watch TV idle. In fact, if I didn't have some form of hand quilting or hand sewing available to me always, I'm afraid I would go into withdrawls! It is very therapuetic and as far as I know there is no time limit on how long you can take to complete a quilt. I have only FMQ smaller projects (wall hangings and table runners). All other machine quilting I have done (other than practice squares, which BTW are absolutely essential) has been either SID or straight line grids done with the walking foot. I have yet to attempt anything larger than twin size on my domestic machine but I know it can be done.
So yes, I was afraid to actually quilt but once I took the plunge with hand quilting there was no turning back and I know it will be the same when I really sit down and practice seriously with FMQ other than meandering, straight lines and SID.