I've tried but don't have the patience for perfection so after yrs of SID and then straight line echo's with walking foot I finally used my quilting designs from emb Lib and used my emb machine and very happy with results..FM'ing isn't for everyone and I'm one of those. I'm always afraid after putting tons of wk into a quilt I'd ruin it.

for me FMQ was an AHA moment but it tooks years of practice to get there. I can tell you it is not overnight and it does get better craftsy and patsy thompson played a huge role in me finally getting the basics down. I am not necessarily good at staying on lines but I am now decent at feathers and fill designs. My fave teachers are cindy needham, patsy thompson, and ann petersen. there is even a quilting with rulers class on craftsy

My best advice to those struggling with FMQ is to get a small white board and draw your quilting patterns over and over on the white board. It builds muscle memory and teaches your brain which way to go. Helps you not quilt yourself into a corner and is cheaper than paper or quilt sandwiches. Yes, you have to practice on the machine too but you would be surprised how much the white board practice helps. I'm pretty good at FMQ but still use the board when learning a new pattern.

I have finally quit struggling and use the straight line method of quilting. I do a lot of QAYG so it is easy to move a large block around and do some really neat modern designs. I took the class by Angela Walters and also Jacque Gering on Craftsy. Angela uses the FMQ foot but does a dot to dot system and it works well. Jacque uses blue painters tape and a walking foot and you can come up with some really neat designs. I can stipple when necessary but like you cannot really seem to find it fun...so why continue....there is a lot of info on the Internet about walking foot quilting and straight line and I find this fun and it really looks good on my quilts.

I find it easier to FMQ smaller projects. I usually do a combination of straight line quilting and FMQ as it takes me a long time to FMQ and I can only do about an hour of it in a day or I go crazy. It definitely helps me to 'warm up' on a practice sandwich beforehand, using the same fabric/batting combination and thread that is in the quilt. I find it is very hard to FMQ a straight line or follow markings - much easier to just 'wing it'. But I keep working on it, each quilt gets a little better.

I agree. I can't seem to do the FMQ foot thing, where you drop and feed dogs and move the fabric around. I'm just not that coordinated, the quilt is bulky and my machine doesn't drop the feed dogs. But, I've had great results with a just walking foot and doing free form, wavy lines, vines, etc. I start in the middle and work my way out to the edges.

~ C

I'm another one that fought with trying to learn/do FMQ. Finally realized I didn't have the patience or the wanting to do it, so I'm a squiggly, wavey line quilter and happy with the results.

I have not taken the time to learn to FMQ. I can stipple on a piece of fabric for a handbag or such but not good enough for a quilt. I like to do the pantagrams on my quilts. I now purchase pantagrams, digitally download them and then using Golden Thread paper draw out a design the width of my table runner or quilt. Make a master copy and figure how many repeats I need, etc. I love quilting this way. I have done several quilts using this method along the borders and used individual motifs for the blocks. Have a number of tops to finish and this is an economical method for me.

I struggled at first too. In fact, I gave up and walked out of my first free motion quilting class because I was so frustrated. Then I found Leah Day's site and watched and practice with her videos. I signed up for her building blocks quilt along and that was the turning point for me. Still not great at it but I highly recommend watching Leah Day's videos. The videos are free on her site, but she also teaches a few Craftsy classes.

Funny this subject should come up. I am taking a class on Craftsy called "The Secrets of FMQ" with Christina Carmeli. I'm not trying to sell anything to anyone, but this class is so helpful. I actually think I can attach a stack of quilt tops I have ready to quilt. Hope this helps.

Susan