One of my quilting free motion teachers said that she always has 'cheater' quilts put together(they are for babies, or for a donation for a worthy cause. I would first try one of those. The other suggestion is to start the quilting session on a throw away, same idea, but it lets you start practicing first on an unimportant piece so you hopefully find your mistakes before you make them on the quilt you love. I also found that you should plan ahead the type of quilting you want on what part of the quilt. You may want to do a grid for one part, a meander around another, little e's or l's on a border, you get my drift. Anyway, you don't feel so panicked when you reach another area.

John Flynn takes his practice pieces and sews them together. He then uses a weed wacker on the seams to make a raggedy quilt. He shows himself doing it on his website.

Finally, when you start making mistakes, and you will, stop. Take a break. Walk around do something and come back to it. You will find you will work much better with the simple last suggestion.

I couldn't agree more. About 25 years ago I took a step and actually machine stitched around the borders with a wavy stitch. I thought it sacrilegious. I still prefer handquilting, but for times sake, I do now machine quilt squares, in the ditch, etc.; however, I think that some of quilting today has become a contest to see who can quilt the densest quilt possible.

Personally, I don't think what passes for quilting now isn't quilting--it is fiber art. The sewing of fabric together and then the embellishments that is put down on the final quilt top has become too much. The hand of the quilt is stiff. Then if there is beading, yo-yos, etc., on any quilt there are lumps and bumps. There are only so many walls in my house. And I do like to have pictures hung also...

A quilt should be soft. It was and is, IMnsHO, a bed covering. I don't want stiffness. I want to be able to snuggle, wrap it around me, comfort me if that is what is needed. I don't need a ton of embellishments on a quilt top either. I guess I will go back to making Amish-style quilts. I can blissfully sit and hand quilt. There will be no need for patterns, or fancy fabric. I will fish out the old quilting frame and set it up in the dining room. I think the quilters of Gees Bend, Mississippi have the right approach. Use what you have. Quilt it if you want to. Tie it if you need it to keep someone warm tonight. Those are quilts.

Please no flames. This is my opinion only. I have seen way too many lovely quilts here that I have been in awe of. I am, myself, working on a Judy Niemeyer quilt. That will be fiber art. But for the most part, I prefer soft squares with a soft cotton batting in between. Soft... that is the key word.

Peace to all of you...

I have only been FMQ for a year but I love it. What I find works for me when I am trying out FMQ designs on my quilt projects is to lay a large peice of clear vinyl table cloth material over my quilt. I then practice designs on the vinyl using a dry esrase pen. This way I can doodle out designs over a large area of the quilt using the actual size of, for example leaves, that I want to try FMQ on the quilt. It allow me to see how the design looks on my quilt. I buy the vinyl table cloth stuff at my local fabric store for less than $2.00 per yard and it is 60" wide. Just erase when you are done and you can use it over and over again.

I have done many queen and king quilts on my home machine. I agree that the trick is to do one small section at a time.

To control things, I often divide the quilt first with stitch in the ditch using my walking foot.