Originally Posted by
dunster
I don't think I have ever just meandered on a quilt. I don't care for the look - reminds me of a mattress pad. There are many quilters online showing a great diversity in FMQ designs. And there are major shows that showcase machine quilting. I actually think the trend is away from meandering.
That mattress pad look (shudder) is because of the constant repetition of a pattern (or lack thereof) in an all-over design. Looks like a computer program did it, for better or worse.
That said, my own quilting skills are such that I simply cannot shove and prod and smoosh my quilt through my DSM along the lines of a marked pattern. Baptist fans?! Hah. I have trouble following a simply curve. No matter how many times I read Gaudinski and Hargreaves and try, try, try, I end up with something fit for the cloth recyling basket.
So everything I do in decorative FQM is freehand. Sunbursts, ocean waves, stars, doodles, meanders and stipples.