Originally Posted by
jillmc
...Once I followed her advice to RELAX and unclench my jaw, my quilting looks MUCH better!
I have an overachiever complex, and i think I should be able to FMQ after a short time, and should be able to do feathers....My meandering and loopy loops look much better, and considering I am using bright green thread on muslin, its not too bad for a beginner!
For me it worked to start with patterns that came naturally - meandering and stippling were easy for me right from the beginning, whereas feathers and cables and whatnot still make my head ache! My girlfriend hates stippling but loves to do little interlocking triangles (lots of short straight lines) as that is what comes naturally to her. If there is some pattern that you have found yourself repeatedly doodling over the years while on the phone, or on your notebooks in highschool, try doing
that for your FMQ. There is a huge amount of muscle memory at work here, and if your brain already has a pattern learned it will make mastering the speed/hand motion coordination much easier. Not to mention that a pattern you have been doodling for years probably already appeals to you at some level, and will therefore look nice even if quilted imperfectly!
I am glad that unclenching your jaw has helped! (I have to work at dropping my shoulders...)
Alison