Diane Guydinski [?spelling] calls it mittens and Mickey Mouse ears. Some other quilters just practice what comes to mind: flame-like, flowery, or angular. If you are still learning then don't worry about crossing the lines. It is too stressful.

Try drawing it several times before you actually do the quilting. If you want use an air erasable pencil to draw on your quilt top.

I think you are just tensing up too much. Have fun with it.

ali

If you think it is too dense, don't do it so densely. You can do any design on any scale. If you don't like the lines 1/2" apart, make them 3" apart instead. It doesn't need to be heavy quilting.

I do agree it is boring and it is really harder to do than other designs.

The one thing I like about meandering is that it doesn't take much planning and it goes fast. It's more fun if you throw in stars, hearts, leaves - anything you can do freeform. To keep the size and spacing of my meandering uniform, I think in terms of coins - a little loop around a dime, a medium size loop around a quarter, and a big loop around a 50 cent piece. Music and wine is a good idea too.

Meandering is what I do best. For me I like to take a breaks between rows.

oh my I would give my right arm for an HQ16 but I can't justify the cost. How do you like it? I either do meandering or I use my janome 350e to embroider a design in each sandwiched square. Depends on my mood

Wish I had a nickel (or even a penny) for every mile I've 'meandered.' I, too, am a meandering fan---first on a domestic machine and now on a Gammill. Have you tried meandering to music? That helped me in the beginning, and now I continue to do it that way---you can get a rhythm going.

I love this idea!!!!!!! That is so fun! I'm working on a quilt now for my adult stepson, and I just might hide a couple of surprises in there for him.

You can learn to meander in all sizes. I took a class where we were trying all different sizes including loops the size of juice cans! I also like soft quilting on most quilts. I generally use a meander that has loops about 2" apart. Meets my need for soft result but good for holding things that get a lot of washing. I found I have to look at the spaces not the meander lines.

Pam

[QUOTE=sept97;5598672]oh my I would give my right arm for an HQ16 but I can't justify the cost.

Save your pennies and anything else. I paid $2,500 for mine on Craigslist. I know there have been times in my life that even that would have been impossible. I had 4 kids then.