My FMQ cheat
 

I've never seen this mentioned online and as I was quilting just now I thought I'd snap a photo and share my method. I only do FMQ and I do it on a 1956 Kenmore. I only do a meander.

My cheat is that I meander right around my basting safety pins. I guess that means my pins are incorporated into my design!

I have a hard enough time wrestling my quilts through the throat of my machine. If I had to stop often and remove safety pins too it would take all the joy out of quilting for me.

I can't think of any reason not to quilt the way I do. Can you?

I hope this helps someone.

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Looks like your method works great. It also allows you to remove the pins after you finish quilting. It seems like a much easier and more efficient way to machine quilt. Thanks for sharing.

Your quilt is beautiful; great colors & your meandering is great. Whatever works.

I think it's a great idea and also looks great. Personally, I hate pin basting, so I thread baste, although I'd rather spray baste, I don't very often.

since I can't meander, i'll have to try your method. thanks.

A creative solution to your problem!

What a clever idea. Never thought about doing this. I may just have to give this a try ... although, I've recently starting spray basting and found I really like that method.

What a great idea for those who pin baste. I used to do that, but now use Elmer's Washable Glue to baste my quilts. That idea came from this wonderful board!

Clever idea. Probably keeps you from crossing the lines.

I always believe that every quilter should use whatever works for him/her. But since you asked... I do leave some pins in if I don't need to remove them to quilt where I want to quilt, but not all of them. I took a class with Cindy Seitz-Krug & she talked about the importance of SITD before beginning FMQ. I really couldn't see why that would matter -- or how I could get it to look nice without leaving invisible (synthetic) thread in my quilt -- but lo & behold, switching to a wash-away thread to SITD before I began my FMQ truly does make for a nicer, more uniform quilt & the seams lay nice and flat.

The other thing is that I try to pin every 4" or so (width of my fist) because otherwise I get puckers and bunching in the back. But that's on my machines (1975 Singer Genie & my new Bernina 350). You might be fine pinning farther apart (and I'm only assuming you are basting every 8 inches based on what looks to be 4" blocks).

Either way, those are nit-picky details & the most important thing in quilts that aren't being made for sale or for competition is that we enjoy the process of making them. I definitely have cheated when making family quilts & you can see the results of those cheats if you are within a foot of the quilt, but they are beautiful quilts and my family members love them no less.