I have had my darning foot for a while. I went to my first quilt show this summer and bougtht the Golden Threads paper. I stopped just short of the Pounce and the book. That darning needle has been sitting in a drawer since the day after I got it.

Today I went to Joannes and bought the book that they were selling with my paper. PERFECT I thought. This will help me with the design part of it. Up until now I have been a SID kind of girl.

The book is Quilting Dot to Dot. Very nice, and I was super excited to come home and try it out.

Ohh My Gosh!!!! They say it takes practice - but now I know how much! It is really hard! Even just to keep the needle on the drawn line.

Wish me luck!

**Edit** Oh, and I just bought Electric Quilt Company Quilting Designs Volume 1 and it should be here any day. Talk about putting the horse before the cart!! :)

good luck, practice,practice, practice

LOL. That was my thoughts 2yrs ago. BEST OF LUCK.

Good luck! You can do it!

It is very hard to follow a drawn pattern for FM. just do it
on your own. it will get better. practice on 18" sandwich.
machingers gloves, loosen upper tension a bit. keep your shoulders down, machine with table extension or set in a table so you have a flat surface. scrunch you quilt up around the area, easier than rolls or folds. sm. glass of wine.
new needle. thread that your machine likes (I find cotton covered poly gives me the most problems. relax. practice.
some day you will say "yahoo !" or to H--- with this. when that happens, go with your gut. try again in 6 months.
you either love it or hate it. Smitty

Just keep working at it and it will get easier. If you don't follow the line perfectly no one but you will know.

I hear your pain. I bought EVERYTHING to "help" and was afraid to try for about a year. I bought the Golden threads paper and 2 books, ultimate pounce, stencils galore, marking stuff, heavier thread and needles, etc. etc. etc and of course the expensive foot for my Viking. My practice always looks good, but I'm still afraid to "ruin" the pieced top I've worked so hard to do. The only thing I've done is use the paper and it's such a pain I want to go forward. Maybe we can encourage each other!

I know exactly how you feel!! I have sewn all my life, practically, been piecing for 25 years, and I sat down to try FM quilting and it felt like I had never sat at a sewing machine before. I'm still only playing around with it, not brave enough to try it on anything very good. Good luck!!

Everyone has been there before! It just takes practice, notice I didn't say time!!! Relas, eat chocolate and get started!!!

You will get the hang of it! It just takes time and lots of practice and patience!

lol @ smitty ~ that small glass of Wine would be motivation enough to get Me started! hahaha...

I have a hard time using the paper to quilt over. For some reason, I seem to have trouble seeing the design at times and then I can't keep it smooth. And yes, it is HARD to get the FMQ thang down. Just don't give up. Practice - practice - practice....you will get there. (Take it from someone who is on the same journey.)

Don't worry..you will get the hang of it... just practice,practice,practice :lol:

To know your pain. I am learning also. I know the quilt police will be after me for doing this but I leave my feeddogs up. It seems I have more control over my work.

I share your pain too! I use up my stash and sew up 4 ugly FQ or fabric other people give me to quilt with (you know the kind don't you?) into a largish rectangle, layer up and practice my free motion. If there's a motif I try echo lines or I try out filler stitches. Need oodles of practice. My most "successful" FMQ is my doodles. Since forever I've always doodled loops, zigzags, and circles - those I can do with my machine. Maybe we should ignore what other people do and use what we do with ease then we can relax at our machines. Not much help I'm afraid if you don't doodle.

I am still learning but with every time I try this again it gets better (not easier yet). I wonder why your practice FMQ always looks better than the real thing. I sew with music on and try to sew with the beat. I started making a new purse yesterday and for the first time put the quilting foot on and started a stipple pattern without messing it up too bad. Half the problem with getting started is to just do it! Pictures when the purse is done!

You will find it easier to get good results on a practice piece as it is not as large as when you have to wield the big quilt around. Try to do a "quilt as you go" project to start with - that way you are only quilting smaller squares and then sewing them together. I have done a few and they are much easier than managing a full quilt as most of the bulk can hang off to the left of the machine. I have done the Cheryl Phillips 'Rings that Bind" and a Cotton Theory project which you can find on Nancy Zieman's website. Hope you feel more confident as you have success. It took me 2 years to have the courage as I didn't want to 'ruin' my tops.