Was doing some stippling last night and was thinking how many of us starting out have trouble with the 'constant speed' issue. My machine has the capability of, if I remove the plug for the foot pedal from the side of my machine, that I can push the stop/start button and it will automatically begin. I set the speed bar to a comfortable setting for me, and let her rip! I could then concentrate on where I was stippling without having to worry about speed. I was able to start and stop without too much trouble. One of those 'just by accident' discoveries!

That's my machine, too. In fact, I've never used the peddle since I bought it. I like to sit with a leg curled under me.

And one day I will get up the nerve to try FMQ!

wow how super that would be, guess im going to have to upgrade,i like to set with my feet up so that would work for me,

So, to avoid eyelashes around the curves, did you move the fabric slower (resulting in closer stitches)? Or was neither of these an issue?

When I got my machine this is how I played with it. I was wondering though (on practice it didn't matter). When doing your FMQ w/o the foot have you had any problems with stopping the machine and not making a mess of things? Guess you can tell I'm scared of this!!!

I have a small question to ask long arm quilters: I am a handuilter and wanted to know why, whenever I see a quilt in the magazines, so many of them are so completely covered with stitches so that the pieced top is almost an afterthought. Am i missing something? I always thought that quilting enhances the quilt top, but they seem to overwhelm them with patterns that do nothing for the quilt. I have also noticed this trend at shows. When there is so much stitching that the quilt is stiffened by them, that would seem to be too much. Thanks for allowing me to vent, but I am a bit confused. I do some machine quilting, but in the ditch, so perhaps someone could enlighten me. Thank you.

well I haven't learned to do anything freehand, I just do edge to edge pantographs but I feel like if I were good at doing it freehand I would get carried away and want to do something in every piece of the quilt. I think machine quilting is beautiful when done well but I don't think those done heavily would be good to actually use because they are stiff. I do enjoy looking at them tho.

It is at such a speed that I can just hit the button and I already have the needle in the needle down position so I don't lose my place.

Not having to worry about the speed of the needle, I am better able to control the motion of the fabric. I do needle down so when I stop, I don't lose my place.

I have the same thing on my Juki and I love it. The machine runs at a constant speed and I just concentrate on the pattern. I haven't had a problem with eyelashes yet. :D