Just wanted to share a great surprise from HB on Friday....A Juki TL2010Q. Have been making quilts for about 7 months and LOVE it. I'm totally hooked. Nothing difficult yet! I'm getting their. Just been tacking in certain areas/stitch in the ditch on the borders. From all you wonderful quilters out their....any tips for me on "free motion quilting, etc? :P

I think all of us will tell you the same thing. The only way to learn to FMQ is to FMQ. Practice, practice, practice!!!! Start out with 9-10 inch square quilt sandwiches (top/batting/backing) and squiggle away. The smaller size is easier to manipulate. Do stippling, stars, leaves, hearts, lightning bolts or anything else you can think of. And once you're done quilting them, they make great potholders, coasters, hotpads. I use insulbrite batting or the silver teflon fabric, depending on what I have on hand when I want to brush up. Put a small binding on them. Then move up to tablerunner size, then crib size. If you make charity quilts, practice on them.

I would suggest that you don't start out with anything larger than a crib quilt. I tried my first FMQ with a lap size quilt, and was ready to throw the quilt and my machine away. I felt like I was fighting the quilt and it was winning. My sister, who only makes potholders (she calls them mini-quilts), clued me in on starting small. I'm not the greatest FMQ-er, but I can now handle the bigger stuff.

Good luck.

Thanks Elizabeth. Good advice. :-D Was able to play around with it last night. So much fun! BTW, I love your quilt you have posted. :-D

Great machine! I find doing FMQ on my Juki works very well. I love piecing with it also. Put on the walking foot and you are set to do nice piecing. Have fun, Mary

What a wonderful surprise!! Hope you have lots of fun with it.
No advice here b/c I'm just learning FMQ :)

What a wonderful gift. I love my Juki. Make sure you have it on a table that will support the quilt while you are quilting. Less fighting the weight of the quilt that way. I always used quilting gloves. I started with Fons and Porters gloves but found using gardening gloves with those little white dots worked just as well and were a whole lot cheaper. Most of all just practice and relax and enjoy the process.

Thanks. It was a freebie paper-piecing pattern. If you search for American Beauty blocks, you will find lots of free patterns.

It's about 36" square and I quilted it all with straight lines and a walking foot.

I'm attaching a picture of a mini I did (18" square) using FMQ in the center block. You can't really see it, but it's a "flowing" type of motion I found searching for stencils.

I took a machine quilting class, and the teacher had a couple good brain trainers. (1) Doodle with paper and pencil when you can, especially before you go to your machine. This builds "muscle memory" and your hands will move smoother when you are quilting. Also, If you have a design you want to FMQ onto fabric, trace over it with your finger several times.

Also, she suggested that you practice on scraps (go back to the potholders) for at least 20 minutes before you start quilting your projects. It takes that long for you to loosen up and feel comfortable.

All I can say is .... your block is "beautiful"!!!! Thanks for all the great information. My neighbor came over last night and she enjoyed trying it out. All I can say is her HB better watch out. :D :P :-D

While trying out the machine I did realize that gloves would probably make FMQ alot easier to manipulate fabric. Will get me some of those gardening gloves you suggested. Thanks!!