Originally Posted by MarthaVA
I have a question on FMQ ~ When doing it on the machine, do you start in the center and work your way out, or do you start on the top, side, bottom.....and work your way across, up, down?
What kind of FMQ are you planning on doing? Is it the usual free-form random type? For this type of FMQ, I prefer to start at an edge and work out from there.
Starting in the middle and working out originated with hand quilters using a hoop. It allowed any excess fabric to be smoothed out towards the edge. It still applies to FMQ if you are doing motifs (say a heart inside every other square). For motifs, people often first SID up/down/across to create stable squares for the motifs. In that case, it is not necessary to start the motifs in the middle (and the lines are worked from one edge to another edge, so there are no threads in the middle needing to be buried).
The most important thing is not to trap excess fabric in the middle of your quilt. When FMQing squiggles or other random forgiving patterns, if you start at one edge and work in general from one side to the other, you will be okay. I would not work from one corner to the other because bias is so much more likely to stretch.