I practice with muslin and scraps of batting that I've zig zagged together. Or if I'm in a real pinch, craft felt. get a cheapy stencil and draw on the muslin and try to follow or "fill in" with quilting stitches.

I'm not good but I have fun - and that's the whole point!

Despite all the encouraging comments here ( :thumbup: ), I have to admit that I, too, have no drawing skills either. I find FQM to be extremely challenging, even after 3 years of doing it on my shortarm machine on a frame, which should make it so much easier. I get all tied up in knots, my stitches are so uneven and the design looks like it was done by a 3 year old.

I am best suited for SID, my own swirly loopy meandering, or edge-to-edge pantograph. Anything else is just beyond my abilities...I don't have that kind of artistic ability.

I feel for you....we should start a club...The Unable to FMQ Quilters!! :-)

It takes lots of practice. While you are practicing, if you find you are better at one thing than another, perfect that one thing. When I first started, I did best with loops and swirls. Not too bad at stars either. It took a lot of practice before I could stay reasonably close to the lines of a pattern. I'm comfortable with it now. I'm still best at loops, swirls and stars...one day, I am going to master feathers!

Ok - well one issue resolved...my Esante Es2 isn't a normal machine...everything I've read says lower the tension - ok well on my machine lowered tension means move the dot to W - how was I to know that meant "wide" (oh the other side is "S" for "short"....then I saw some tutorials that said to put the stith length at zero...so I did this - broke 2 needles and puckered the heck of out material so I thought - hum...move the dot all the way up instead of down VIOLA...

so on one hand I'm glad to know my machine is as backwards as I am - on the other...I'm not taking back the not so nice words I said upon each broken needle!

I'm playing in-between cups of coffee....its looking a little better - I know can draw as well as a 6 year old but this will take practice....

I felt your pain today...This is my third time just sitting for abt an hr trying to get something that would look decent on a piece...the size of my stitches are consistant but I just can't get those swirls to look alike in size or even straight...My circles are getting better...Practice Practice Practice...I guess we'll see if we can write in a yr or so and say we got it....

LOL, I sat in a meeting today and turned over the handout and meandered all over the back! I read that even this can help you get the feel.

Your doing circles? I'm strill trying squiggly lines....(I did put a piece of wax paper underneath and its moving more smooth now....

I doodle a lot - so maybe I'll change my thinking and doodle stipple's and meander's!! :)

I just finished FMQ my first quilt and lets say that it is a good thing my dd is only three years old and not very picky about how nice the quilting is on her blanket. And this is after practicing a good amount on three different "doll" quilts for my dd to play with. it should get easier, but I have the same problem. My mom is a painter and I couldn't paint my way out of a room even with paint by numbers and someone else holding the brush. probably because i can't draw a straight line with a ruler. good luck and keep at it.

When I first started, I was so bad I didn't even suck. SO congratulations for sucking. I had to work my way up to "suck" and remember when I came home from my class yelling across the yard "I suck, I finally suck"
I equate the process to learning how to drive a stick-shift. Too many moving parts and everything has to be in alignment.