Need advice on bed quilt
 

I'm quilting on a Hungry Caterpillar bed quilt for my daughter and need some advice. This quilt is driving me crazy as it's huge and I spend more time fighting with it under the machine than the actual quilting. :( I've attached some photos so you could see the quilt I'm working on.

1. What's the best way to quilt on the caterpillar/butterfly motifs? I suppose it would be to quilt around the shapes? For this, would it be easier to handquilt than FMQ? I'm quite new to FMQ and not sure if I'm able to maneuver round the turns and corners of the motifs without them getting out of alignment.

2. I'm using the Warm & Natural cotton batting. Would it bunch if I just quilt round the motifs and SITD (or maybe some around the borders)? As mentioned, the quilt is huge and the thought of doing too much FMQ really freaks me out!

3. Is it possible to hide stitches in cotton batting? I find this pretty hard compared to poly batting.

4. Any other advice on sewing a large quilt?

Hope to get some advice on the above!

I quilt on longarm so am not sure how to advise you on dsm, sorry! But I wanted to say your quilt is sooooo cute, I love it!!!!

I'd outline the butterfly, then quilt along a few of the lines in the wings. That would secure your batting a little better and add dimension to the quilt. For the larger caterpillar I'd outline it including the segments, then outline the eyes. I'm a novice at FMQ too but discovered I do better with an outline than I expected. You might want some meandering in the white area as well.

Cute quilt. Is the model the recipient?

The key, in my opinion, is to go slow. Honest! Going around the wings and all the curves you'll really need to take your time. I would start by going around the blocks themselves, that will stop your batting and backing from shifting on all the curvy parts. Beautiful quilt by the way

That is such a gorgeous quilt.

Love the quilt!

Yes that's for my daughter shown in the pic! She's a big fan of the Hungry Caterpillar and has been urging me to complete the quilt!

Thanks for those tips. Guess I should do some practicing before I start on the actual thing. My gut feel is that FMQ doesn't seem as easy when I have lines to follow.

That is a cute quilt! From my experience my suggestion is to go slow, makes all the difference in the world!

My experience with FMQ is that the stitches get longer & unsightly as I slow down. How can I get around this problem...going slow with the curves but still have nice stitches?

Love it, great quilt!!!