First quilt, a question about doing the quilting
 

I am making my first quilt (I have been following the 2012 BOM class on Craftsy). I still have half of the blocks to make but now am thinking ahead to doing the actual quilting. I have a very basic machine. Janome Jem Gold 2 (model 661). I believe that I can get a walking foot for this machine but is the machine really going to be up to the task? Is the "throat" of the machine going to be big enough? The blocks, 20 of them are 12" finished in size. The machine was around $200 and the walking foot is about $50. I don't want to invest in a walking foot for this machine if it isn't going to do the job anyway....

Thoughts, suggestions??

If your intentions are to continue quilting, a walking foot is a good investment. I have a domestic Janome MC4000 machine. It has a small harp (throat/or whatever that area is called) and I have put queen size quilts through it. I use a fairly flat loft batting -- polyester traditional batting -- (because we don't have much use for very warm quilts in our area). The only quilting I do is stitch in the ditch and cross hatching. I do one line at a time and roll the quilt up tightly to do that one. I start in the center and work toward the edges. Good luck and happy quilting.

P.S. Good for you for working on the BOM with Craftsy. I went through it by watching the videos and printing out all of the material. Even bought the background fabric that Amy used. Perhaps in 2013 I'll do the blocks.

a walking foot makes the quilting go much easier. I do almost everything on the longarm, but smaller projects I use my walking foot for. It is much easier to do that way. I always put binding on with the walking foot too. I think it is a great investment and once you see how much easier it is to use it, You'll love it.

So the Janome Jem Gold (it is a lightweight machine) will be adequate for quilting???

You might consider quilting the quilt in sections. Get Marti Michell's book, Machine Quilting in Sections. The walking foot will also be useful for binding. I don't know anything specifically about your machine.

Craftsy offers a class by Leah Day. She teaches several fmq designs made to go with the block of the month. There is also information on making it a quilt as you go. You quilt each block and then put them together. I am going to make mine that way. I am not sure how hard this will be. It may be difficult for a first time quilter. Maybe someone on here can let you know. I think a walking foot is a must if you are going to do much quilting. Good Luck.

I've been quilting for years (SID and FMQ) on a 1990's basic model Singer sewing machine. It has been just fine. I never picked up a walking foot but I hear they are helpful.

Good luck!

I just did a quick search here on the site for Jem and here's one link to previous threads. http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...n-t208942.html I don't have the machine and when I've seen others use it at retreats .... my opinion is I would rather have something a little larger for my "home" machine & save the Jem for retreats & travels. However if this is what you can afford, and you already have the machine.... then go for it and enjoy it.... and learn to use it with the size and feet you can.

I agree or doing a quilt as you go