I am relatively new to quilting. I have never tried machine quilting and I am wondering, how do you manipulate a full, queen sized quilt ? I just can't imagine how to keep the bulk of it out of the way or how to feed it.

Thanks
Brenda

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g14govA4pIM there are a number of videos like this one. Do a search and you should find what you need.

I roll it, and I try to have a big table to sort of have the quilt, layed out so it won't drag. I hand quilt, myself but I am taking the easy way out and (conceidently) quilting MY queen sized quilt!

So far, I have only done stitch-in-the-ditch on my machine and I use the SID foot to help. I roll half of the quilt and work that half, then I roll the other side and quilt it. It does get heavy and my shoulders get sore so breaks is a must.

There are clips on the market to hold the roll, but they don't want to work for me.

I'm a "puddler". My first big quilt that I ever machine quilted was a queen sized bed quilt (I had done some stitch in the ditch on a couple of throws). I had my queen basted and ready to go for almost a year and a half before I did anything because it scared me. :-) Then a friend said what she does was just find the middle and kinda just scrunch up the rest of it. Start quilting there in the middle and work your way out. Worked GREAT! I always found rolling up my quilts awkward because they seemed too stiff for me to handle.

I love your phrase, puddler. I call it scrunch and bunch. Same thing. I like your word better. It works great for me.

i used to baste, then roll from each edge to the center, then, starting in the center i worked from the center to the right, unrolling as i went. when i got to the end (edge), i removed it. i rolled it back up to the center, put it back under the machine in reverse, starting quilting to the right again until i finished at the other end (edge).

i supported the quilt on extra folding tables.

by using this method, you never have too much fabric under the arm of your machine at one time. worked for me.