well, i haven't solved the problem of the pop ups even tho i worked with the tension thing, changed the throat plate and needle but i did try using the monofilament in the bobbin as well as top. i think that is what i'll be doing. there will only be a small amount of free motion in the white background portion anyway. major quilting will be in the ditch. my goal in quilting is to learn how to do feathers, shells etc.( keeping my stitches even) as i said earlier i use a just a regular machine & i can't handle a full size quilt so i've used the quilting in sections method. i'm not crazy about it but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. i have 6 children and i made them each a quilt for Christmas using that method. i'm now working on a quilt using Betty Cotton's Cotton Theory system. has anyone tried that?