A very big THANKS to all of you for the suggestions. I'm off to the local shop hop tomorrow morning...searching for bobbin washers among other things. If I don't wear myself out I will give your suggestions a try tomorrow afternoon or Sunday.

And also thanks for your encouragement as I try something new.

I agree!

I tried the bobbin washer but then my bobbin wouldn't fit! I don't know if it's because it's a drop in bobbin or what!!

This happened to me too. Will be watching this to see what other, more experienced, quilters have to say.

if you want to try one of those needles i would be more than happy to send you one. save buying a pack and paying shipping charges.

It looks like two issues to me:
Top tension may be too loose and a purchase of a single hole plate for the machine would help with the quality of the stitch.

Hi Sunnie, just wanted to add that I had this problem with FMQ. I got so frustrated I solved it the expensive way....I bought a long arm. BTW I am in Glenmoore, just a short hop from Morgantown. Two of my sons live in Elverson.

That is too funny. But not an option here as even if I could afford a LA there is absolutely no space for it.

Yes, you are close. We should meet up some day.

Couple of things i found: The area over the feeddogs has to be absolutely smooth. If there was any gap (for example between the plate and the bed) the quilt will catch and cause the stitches to go nuts. I think there are vinyl covers that you can buy for FMQ (there's a thread on the forum somewhere...)And interestingly enough although I did not quite go the route of Grann of 6, I did buy a mid arm BabyLock Quilters Pro. The difference between FMQ on that vs my Bernina was night and day.

Hi...try keeping the feed dogs up.....has transformed the apperance of my FMQ...