Ideas please!!
 

I LOVE piecing the top of a quilt but when it comes to the actual act of quilting, it terrifies me!! I am so afraid of messing it up or afraid of it not looking good! Anyone else feel this way??? I just can't visualize what it will look like done.

I have made lots of blankets in the past but this will only be my second quilt and I really wanted to try free motion quiliting and do a meanderring (sp?) pattern but I have an old machine and I am having a hard time finding a FM foot that will fit my machine and I am running out of time to keep searching for one because the quilt is for my neighbor who is due to have her baby any day! So I need some ideas of how I can quilt on this pattern. My first quilt I SID but I wasn't sure that would look good on the backing fabric of this quilt. Any ideas would be appreciated!!

It is beautiful!! I have only hand quilted, and usually ouitine or SID..Recently I bought stencils that work nicely. Perhaps you can SID the outline of the block and find a simple pattern to put in the block..Love the owl fabric too..what are you going to use that for?? Also, for babies I usuually use a flannel for the backing.

That's a beautiful top! So colorful!

Very pretty and I love your owls. Not sure what to do to finish. Good luck. I'm sure someone will have an idea. Sue

The owl fabric is going to be my backing. So if I SID it will leave blocks on the owl fabric, will that look ok? Also, I forgot to ask what color I should stitch with, I was thinking a shade of pink.

This pattern would really lend itself well to be SITD with a walking foot. Thats what I would do

You could do an "X" across the squares, then go across in the middle, then up and down the middle like the stars we made when we were kids.

Or, use a squiggle instead of straight SID between two squares, up and down and across

Don't use a foot at all. If your feed dogs will drop just go open needle. Oh, and don't sew one of your fingers in there.

When you do find your foot, do NOT practice FMQ on a quilt top! Especially if you are pressed for time. You need to get some practice time in on scrap sandwiches. There are lots of videos out there to get you started. Do a search on FMQ on this board and there are lots of tips out there. For many people, it takes a bit of time to get the hang of it.
For this beauty, I would do straight line stitching, an "X" across the squares is a great suggestion!

I totally agree! Please do not start out FMQing on a beautiful little quilt top like this. It took me months of practice before I did anything I wanted to keep.

Here's a quilt I did awhile back using a quilting design with a walking foot that might look nice on your quilt. Take a look at the second picture (of the back) to see how it was quilted: http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...t-t154385.html

The quilt is beautiful!!!

Another thought, you can use your walking foot to do a simple outline of an owl in each block, after you SID around the outside of each block. But you will need to stop every 2-3 stitches to re-align your stitching to the curves. It sounds tedious but I have certainly done it in the past and it works well - your feed dogs are up - try it on a sample first. Here is a colouring page you could simplify one of these outlines. http://www.coloring.ws/owl.htm

KIMMERS14---I'm with you. I love making the quilt top. but when it comes to quilting it, I freeze. I've done some FMQ, but I'm not real happy with it. Done it on simple things, and it's turned out okay, but I'm terrified to try it on a quilt that will be given as a gift. I feel your pain! I guess it's what everyone says---practice, practice, practice. Good luck!

If you want to quilt owls on the quilt, why not just turn your fabric sandwich over and outline your owls on the backing? Personally, I think the owls would get lost in the blocks of the top. This pattern would really look good done SID or X or some other straight line quilting. When the top is colorful like yours, you really don't see the quilting. I would use a light pink thread top and bobbin and I really think that would look great on both sides.

I think SID would look fine on both sides of your quilt...as would the X across. A light pink would look good as top and bottom thread. The stitching on the back will hardly show up anyway.

Beautiful quilt!

Dina

What kind of machine do you have that you can't find a FM foot? Most machines are short shank, long shank or slant shank. Berninas are an exception, I think. All three shank types are available.

FMQ - Just do it, though I would practice on a sandwich first and the draw the pattern I wanted on a surface with the index finger of my dominant hand, then have at it.

I wish I had your guts. I have pieced many, many quilts, but never quilted a one (except hand quilted 3/4 of a wall hanging 20 years ago) and always end up sending mine out to a LA quilter to do her magic. I wish I believed in myself enough to even practice quilting. I won't even try that because it seems too daunting thinking about quilting an actual quilt. So, hooray for you!!!!

That owl fabric would make a fab border for that quilt!

Walking feet are pretty specific and hard to get for many older machines. A darning foot, however, is generally easier. THAT is what you want to free motion.

Could you get up enough gumption to just do straight line quilting in a grid pattern - even diamond grid? I know exactly how you feel about not wanting to ruin the top. I made top after top and was too afraid to quilt them until a good friend pleaded with me to help her quilt the charity quilts that she had. It was very good practice and of course, i keep getting better with each one that I do. I am not afraid now, and welcome new ideas to improve what I do. Start practising on some practice sandwiches and you should get brave enough to try the nice one.
My friend deliberately made me get out of my comfort zone, and I still do 10mins practice on a sandwich before starting a new quilt, as it loosens me up. All the best with it.

Before working on a big quilt, try FMQ on potholders. For this nice little quilt, why not try a 4" grid using your walking foot and some masking or painters tape? That will work fine and look quite nice. It will help you practice maneuvering your quilt around.

It will be beautiful what ever you decide no quilting police here only lots of quilting buddies

Love those colors.

I quilt by hand and love it.

I have similar feelings when it comes to machine quilting but it's getting better with each one! I take a deep breath and start!!! I've also learned to concentrate on one small area rather than thinking about the entire quilt as a whole and this seems to help me. Good luck and don't be afraid, just do it!!

If it were mine, I would make an X in each 9 patch. First make a big x across the whole square, then make the short legs of the 4 smaller Xs by sewing across the corner 3 squares of each 9P. That will go really fast too. I would then SITD around the outside of each large block.

I don't think SID would look bad. Go for it!

Have you considered outlining the owls using your sewing machine regular stitch (or make your stitch length a tiny bit longer). It's almost like stitch in the ditch - without the ditch! As long as your tension is good you can slowly stitch around these little guys on the back and the front will show the quilted outline of the owls - very cute!

I only do SID and grid patterns. I really like the way the grids look. You can start in the upper left corner and go through each block diagonally til you get to the bottom right corner. Then go over maybe two blocks and repeat til you've done the whole quilt. Also this way you are starting and stopping on the edge where it won't seen (I'm not very good at starting and stopping within the quilt neatly). If you did every block, that would be too much. I'm scared to FMQ and don't have the patience to practice, practice, practice like everyone suggests. It is a very pretty quilt and your neighbor will love it. I think light pink would be perfect, or white.

what about cross hatching it? that is what i do with a lot of the baby quilts i do when i machine quilt versus hand quilt.

I wonder if a Big Foot would work with your machine. I bought one similar to this:
http://www.amazon.com/Free-motion-Da.../dp/B004ZMD6HS

I am new at all of this and have only read of one other person besides myself doing this, but have you thought about quilting your backing, maybe just meandering around the lovely owls, not really outlining them. I did this for my first quilt the back was all cars, the top looked very nice. At least according to everyone who has commented on it. It is posted under (pictures forum as "Christopher's Quilt". You have to look at the second posting in order to see both sides. Like I said I am new at all of this. OH! You quilt is very pretty for a little one and I love the owls.

What about quilting around the owls on the back instead of the blocks on the front?

When i first started to quilt i did only straight lines up and down and side ways...and they all turned out good and i used varagated thread... so do what ever you like it will also look good....i eather SID or do 1/4 in on each side if the seam...

Why not quilt from the back and outline the owls. I think it would look awesome.

Try Brubakers for the foot you need.

I think the SID option or diagonal lines (x's on each square), in pink thread if you like, would be just fine. I don't think the little owls would be look bad at all with that treatment. If you have a scrap of the owl fabric, you could make a little sandwich and test what it would look like.

I would cross-hatch it. The geometric design formed by the straight lines would look good on the square blocks. Great color choices, btw!

Perfect quilt for cross hatching.

Have you considered quilting from the back? Maybe a meandering pattern going between the owls? That would highlight the owls and not cut any of them in pieces like SITD would.
I hope you let us know what you decide.

When I was first learning to FMQ, I found that using variegated thread helped hide any boo boos. Lines that aren't quite as smooth as you may want themto be won't even be noticeable. I agree with what others have said about not doing your first FMQing on that quilt especially since you want to give it as a gift. Also, if you will not be using a machine on a frame, it would be much better to start on small quilt sandwiches and work up to something bigger.
Keep us posted and good luck!