lizcake

I have officially done it!! I have put the first machiine stitches into my first fully machine quilted quilt. Not as scary as I thought, but still, terrifying. Now, after working for one hour, I have a series of questions!

First: Is the free-motion/darning foot supposed to sit all the way down to the quilttop the way your regular presser foot does? Cuz mine doesn't, and it's making it difficult to move my hands when I need to shift the quilt.

Second: Why is my machine skipping stitches? See photo.

Third: I started tonight on the foundation(?) quilting, the in-the-ditch quilting that is supposed to be invisible and anchor everything down before I begin working in the blocks. Since my stitches are clearly NOT invisible since I still haven't managed to make a consistently straight stitch(again, see photo, #2)), when I begin the background free-motion quilting, can I or should I not quilt over the ditch stitches. I know you're not supposed to cross over your free-motion stitches,but does that apply to the foundation stitches?

Fourth: Any other hints? This quilt is for my bf's first baby, and of course I want it to be special, and perfect. I know, perfection doesn't exist beyond the first inch or two, but I still want it to be perfect.