Free Motion Quilting Class... ohhhh what a challenge
 

I took a Free Motion Quilting class with a friend on saturday. Oh my goodness..... what a way to feel like a failure!! LOL I now know the basics for free motion and the instructor was very generous in letting us use her tools such as a 'Kwick klip tool for pins, Sew Slip sheets, gloves, pens etc etc. It was nice previewing these items before deciding whether I could live without them or not. I learned a lot of interesting tidbits about quilting, threads, designs etc. It was a good class to attend and I did learn a few tips and tricks but I realize that the most important part of the class is what comes afterwards... and that would be PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE....... ETC I am sure that some pick this up immediately and do quite well, I guess I would confess that for me... not sew much! giggle
I find that I am more proficient going left to right than vice versa. My free motion at this point looks like my 3 yr old granddaughter did it! LOL but... I will continue to practice and practice.... and practice.... My friend and I were pretty discouraged at the end of class but then as we chatted we realized we were better than when we began sooooo.... I will try to hold onto that thought!! ;-)
A website that the instructor highly recommended was: http://www.daystyledesigns.com/freem...ltingintro.htm

I will be checking this out and hopefully learn further about FMQ

Good for you! I started out with FMQ just a few years ago just like you, only I think maybe a 3 year old could have done better than me at the time! After taking a class, I set my mind to PRACTICING often, and did utilize Leah Day's site also. The first few months of FMQ practice were fun, but definitely the hardest thing I've learned in a long time! Of course I'm still learning, but now I can do FMQing without feeling like I might ruin the piece I'm working on. :p

Good for you for taking a class! I started by taking a class at my local fabric store. She didn't spend any time on thread choices, or other goodies but focused on just learning how to do it. We started my just doing loop de loops like written "e" . By the end of the class we were writing our names in thread. Personally, I think we learned better by just focusing on the stitching and not sidetracking into what gadgets we could use. Besides, the list of gadgets is ENDLESS. That and everyone's opinion of what's essential and anothers is different.
Best wishes with your stitching!

Thank you both for the encouragement! I do agree time could have been better spent practicing free motion than auditioning gadgets... but I do feel I have the basics and now it's simply time to practice. It's just sew intimidating!!

I found the gloves are the most important. If you do not have them its very hard on the hands. I love FMQ'ing.

If doing it on my domestic machine I even like using silk thread it really does not show the tiny mistakes. I am getting braver and have used 50wt thread and that worked good. I use the goves and super slider.

Have no idea if you're my age, but remember penmanship classes, making circles and circles and more circles? That is how I finally got a rhythm into my fmq stitches. I think it's normal to be better with different directions, etc. I found that making hearts combined with some doodlling and also some stars like you'd draw it with a pencil were the easiest to start. Draw some designs from stencils and follow the lines also. You'll have lots of fun with this.

Today I signed up for a FMQ class on the Craftsy we'd site. I want to learn too.

Sounds nice, I like going to hands-on classes. Was this at your Babylock dealer, and were sewing machines provided for you?

I took a class at the Raleigh NC quilt show. I was lucky that they supplied the machines and it just happened to be on the machine that I own; Viking Ruby. I had always been nervous to try after hearing all of the horror stories on here. I loved it and found out I was pretty good too. I need to practice alot to get my stitches more even but I did pretty good. The ruby had two options when FMQ so we did the one she liked the best and it was good. My friend didn't like it so much but she hasn't even sewed for a few yrs and she would tense up. The teacher didn't focus alot on the gadgets. While we were practicing she'd talk about things she's had good luck with and such and then showed us a few things she likes at the end. I'd take another one of her classes in a heart beat. Now to just find the time to practice it a lot more. Leah Day's website is great and offers a lot of great tips. My LQS is having a demo in Sept on the longarm and showing us things that aren't quilting too so we have more options and then be more tempted to buy one. I'm no where close to buying one but looking forward to learning what all it can do and we'll have hands on as well. The last time Viking came to the store I bought the 5D Pro software and I had a great time learning from her. I'm now learning how to digitize and this past weekend my teacher showed me how to design a cover for my Nook, doing it all in the hoop; which is the way I like doing it. I love doing embroidery as much as the quilting.