You can cross your stitches when FMQ. Only if you are meandering should you not cross. But there are no quilt police and no hard and fast rules. Of course, you have to cross if you are doing loops or feathers. Just practice, practice, practice. I still have trouble keeping even speed on fabric, I still jerk a lot. One thing that helps is the teflon coated, oh can't think of what the sheet is called, slider, I guess. I love mine.

oh my gosh! Thank you so much everybody. Let's see if I can sum up the answers.

1) Yes, I will admit, I was trying to use the darning foot for the straight stitching. When I try to use my regular presser foot, the quilt doesn't move very well, mucgh less evenly. And as I am just beginning with this idea of MQ I have not bought a walking foot. I know when I do I need to get one specifically for my machine and not just a generic one, but budgets.... So, I guess I will try again with the regular foot.

2)I didn't think the darning foot was supposed to sit against the fabric the same, I just wanted to check since there were more than 2 differnt feet for my machine that were listed as being good for FMQ. Needed to make sure i had the right one, or if there really is a right one. I guess that's basically a personal choice.

3) I knew that I could make the foundation stitches cross, I just don't know about crossing them when I go to background quilt. I've been watching videos on Leah Day's 365 FMQ designs blog (if you haven't seen them, it's AWESOME!!), but she always demonstrates on something like a 4-inch square. And I never know about just you-tubing videos...not all of the people who put up videos actually know what they're doing ya know?

4)Practice makes perfect. I know. I want to be perfect without the practice though? Maybe? Think it's possible?

5) I am putting on my Christmas list one of those little extension tables for my machine...I think that will help with the tension issues, since I was trying to work with the small 5-ish inches of my machine. Now to convince my m-in-law that this would be the perfect gift....I wonder if I could get her to throw in a walking foot too....

Thanks again.

Definitely get a walking foot. Regular foot pushes upper fabric esp. when quilting because of layers and thickness. You will not get good results unless layers are feeding at same rate.

Don't we all wish it just came without practice. LOL

Leah Day is AWESOME and recognized as an expert, so you can watch her videos with confidence that you are getting good advice.

A walking foot is definitely a big help. I don't know what machine you have, but when I got a walking foot for my brother, the lady at the store actually recommended the generic one she had.

You are also right on when you talk about an extension table. A quilt gets heavy and having it supported well is very important. (IMHO) You should see what my set up looks like when quilting a big quilt....a fold up portable table behind my machine, a table to my left side (or ironing board) and then the rest thrown over my shoulder...quite a sight! ;-)

Yep practice does make perfect, just hard to admit that when I want to be perfect, NOW!

Good luck and have fun!