Really Scary
 

I'm quilting my first quilt doing stippling. I keep doing it over, tearing out and doing it again. I have done shadowing, stitch in the ditch, diagonals etc. I read you just have to do it and will get better, but how do I get over it is a bad job, rip it out. I hate quilting, but love to put together the quilt tops - I can't afford to have them done by a quilter. Can some of you tell how you learned to stipple? Thanks

Too bad you can't locate someone in your area that you trust that will trade piecing for quilting. That would be ideal for you. Maybe you could attempt to find someone like that. They supply you the fabric and thread - you piece for them. You supply your quilt tops, batting and backing - they quilt for you.

I made up a dozen practice swatches about two feet each side, using cheap muslin and batting scraps. I cannot imagine starting out on a real quilt, much less ripping out the stitches every time!

Contrary to popular belief, all over meander is not always the easiest thing to do. I recommend making a practice sandwich and marking it with a design that you like with chalk or water soluble marker. Then try FMQ by following the marked line. You may find that is more to your liking. Even when I FMQ on my domestic, I was never a big fan of all over meander. I avoid it whenever possible now that I have LA. There are too many other FMQ designs I like better.

Also remember, looking at quilting when you are only a few inches away and concentrating on about 18 square inches at most leaves room to be very critical of yourself. Believe me, when you do a whole quilt and even it it has tons of mistakes it is very hard to find them when taking in the whole quilt visually. What you see when you are 5 inches away, you will not see when you are 5 feet away. Quit being so hard on yourself.

What about making a set of placemats?
or baby burp cloths?
or a simple table topper with just printed fabric top and bottom?
etc?

Google Leah Day and scroll down until you see Free Motion Quilt Project. She has done several video's on stippling that are very good. Start with lesson 1 and you will learn a lot. She has been posting one lesson per week.

My heart breaks every time I hear of someone starting quilting on a real quilt they intend to keep.

All of the free motion quilt patterns take time and practice. You need to develop a rhythm, a "muscle memory", and a sense of where you've been and where you need to be on the quilt - and do it all at the same time. Equate it to somone leaning how to drive a manual transmission with no lessons and starting them at the top of a mountain pass.

Put scraps of fabric and batting together and practice on those until you are comfortable. I have tons of little scrap sandwiches laying around with practices of this and that motif. If there is a new motif I want to use, I'll practice it 3-4 times or more if necessary, before I attempt to put it on my quilt.

I totally agree with the others - practice on something first, scraps that can be thrown away and not ripped out or a dog bed or a present for someone who doesn't appreciate anything anyway, LOL. Don't let your FMQ and the seam ripper get acquainted. I'm not sure whether you're trying stippling or meandering. They're basically the same, except that stippling is very tiny loops that fill up a space so that it is very flat, while meandering is the larger loops that fill up a whole quilt. I don't care much for meandering, and found that swirls, spirals, leaves, etc. were both prettier and more fun to practice with. Good luck.