I Think I'm Better at Hand Quilting
 

I did a fair amount of meander lines in the bowl part of my little fish bowl wall hanging. It did not turn out as I had expected. So......guess what I will be doing after supper? Oh, well. Live and learn. I wish I could afford a mid-arm.

Maybe try some wavy lines and couple bubbles. Don't know how big your fish bowl is but would be nice to see photo.

Oh my goodness. I put this in the wrong section. It should be in main. Tessagin, there is a picture under the title Fish Bowl Wall Hanging. It is before the machine quilting, however.

try, try again.show us what you did/

This is what I am in the process of taking out right now. I may end up falling back on my strength, which is echo quilting around the bowl, and leave it at that.

Join Tartan she's undoing quilting as well.

I am probably better at hand quilting also, but it just takes forever. Everyone assures me that with practice it's doable, so when I finish my current quilt, I'm going to really make an effort to work at FMQ.

Ha, you have company in seam ripping season. After much practice, I thought I would have a go at a "waiting to be quilted" sandwich. What looked pretty good on my practice piece, did not on the real thing. Wish I would have practiced on the real thing. I don't know why I kept at it so long! 2 lessons learned!

If I might suggest, try drawing some lines for the look of water before you start your quilting. When you have the design you like, then use some white chalk to mark your lines on your quilt. I find it easier that way. You might try making your lines half the length. When I am not sure how to quilt something, I go look at Google images. The only error I saw was when you stitched thru the grass applique. Don't be so hard on yourself. We all continue to learn from our mistakes. :)

I prefer hand quilting too. I see no value in fast.

Oh no, please don't give up! It's just that your waves are too even and going on top of the grass. It would look good if you outline the "stuff" in the bowl then do a few uneven waves in the water part, going into the smaller spaces too. I agree about marking the waves first.

Actually I had drawn lines on parchment paper. It was very difficult to stay on them though, while trying to get the bulk through the throat of the machine.

Not trying to discourage you with machine quilting, but I find I am so much more successful with hand quilting also. I get in a hurry and think, "I'll just machine quilt this little project." But 'til I sandwich and baste together, then try to figure out what I can successfully do for machine quilting (my fmq is horrible, so has to be straight or gently curving lines with a walking foot), I am most often convinced it's worth a little extra time to hand quilt. (I use a floor frame that does not require basting.) So, whatever works for you...

I'm with you there. All the problems I hear people talking about with machine quilting, puckers, bird nests, etc.

I am a hand quilter who keeps trying to machine quilt. I have finally decided that the whole machine quilting process is just not for me..tends to take the relaxation aspect out of it. I just finished hand-quilting a lap-size quilt doing "big stitch" and I was amazed how quickly it moved along. I will continue doing my traditional hand quilting on my special quilts, but for all others, it's big stitch for me.

Good advice from Maniac. Draw in the lines you want to quilt and GO! Just don't quilt over leaves, stems, etc.

I started out as a hand quilter until I got arthritis in my hands. I quilted a couple of quilts with my walking foot with mostly straight lines and I was not happy. I took classes on a long arm quilter in Orlando and I realized that you have to know how to draw your design before you can make your machine do what you want. The best advice I learned was to buy a sheet of glass (part of an old coffee table top), tape the edges with blue painter's tape, use a dry erase marker and keep drawing and erasing until you know how to draw the pattern. I then bought 5 yards of muslin, made a sandwich and I practiced making designs on my sewing machine. Draw some lines to begin with if this will help you but practice, practice, practice is what makes FMQ enjoyable.