I attach below a photo of a border that I'm trying to quilt. As you see, the border fabric is of leaves.

I want to quilt around each leaf. I started hand-quilting, which allows me the greatest control, but I cannot come close to neither an acceptable stitch gauge nor an acceptable rhythm; in addition, it will take more time than I have (quilt to be auctioned 22 May; it's lap size and there are about five yards of this border), and I'm not sure that either my eyes or my hands are "young" enough to get through this process. (P.S. I've never hand-quilted anything before.)

On the machine, I have only ever done stitch-in-the-ditch with a standard foot. Last night I attempted to attach a generic walking foot (purchased at Hancocks recently) to my 1970s Monkey Wards machine; doesn't fit. I have other feet for this machine, but not a walking foot. There is a "foot" with only a "circle" through which the needle would go.

I'm thinking of trying free-motion but know nothing about it. And as I look at the pattern, I fear that I'd have to do a lot of stop-start as I jump from one group of leaves to another.

Basically I think I'm in over my head (not that that's stopped me in the past) and need advice from quilters here.

Sending to a free-arm quilter is not an option. a) I have no way to compensate her; b) my piecing on this leaves (ahem) much to be desired in places (i.e., I'm embarrassed to have anyone else look THAT closely at it); c) I doubt there's time.

Suggestions? I really do want to quilt around these leaves.

What about doing a lattice pattern, so it looks like the leaves are climbing on a trellis?

a walking foot will not help you quilt around those leaves- a walking foot is good for stitch in the ditch/cross-hatching, ect- straight lines.
a free motion foot (also called a darning foot) is used for free motion quilting.
make a (practice) sandwich about 12" square, put a few leaves on it and practice. free motion quilting takes some practice before it looks good enough for a quilt up for auction.
if you do not have a darning foot do you have a clear foot so you can see where you are going? that would help=
also with a walking foot the feed dogs are kept up- used-
with free motion the feed dogs are put down- not used- which allows you move the fabric sandwich around

Here is a great link on how to do FMQ leaves:

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=...quilting+vines

That is a very simple leaf vine if you leave out the center of the leaf. The round circle foot is probably the darning foot if it has a spring on the arm above the foot. You drop your feed dogs, lay your hands flat on the sandwhich, put the pedal to the metal (fast foot speed) and move your hands slow. I wear gloves (garden gloves work). Make a piece of your scraps your practice guide and use the pattern above to show you how to get around the leaves and connect them. Good Luck and the fabric is great for a quilting pattern. My sister's and my first machines were the same one as yours.

How about an old fashioned quilting bee? Ask some friends over who quilt and ask them to help you finish this in time for the auction.

Thanks; yes, I have a darning foot. I've also been watching Patsern this morning:

http://www.youtube.com/user/patsern

and next I'm off to Peg's link to FMQ leaves.

Thanks!

I would find a stencil with a leaf pattern. I wouldn't try and quilt around the printed leaves, just do a leaf pattern in the border to compliment the print. I also like the lattice idea. You can use a walking foot for the lattice, but you need a darning foot to FMQ. If you get a stencil, you can hand quilt. Beautiful fabrics, would like to see the whole quilt when you are done!

Ahem. The only "friends" I have who quilt are... you all... I actually don't know one local person who quilts. (play sappy violin music here...)

I'm going to try FMQ on a 12" test patch and see just how bad I am... (oops... my feed dog switch appears to be jammed... arrghhh)

Let you know how it goes. In the meantime, some add'l photos of the quilt, along with inspectors. (Sorry for the photo quality.)

No suggestions but love the quilt - not sure that this is what they meant about a quilting bee though. :lol:

No suggestions but love the quilt - not sure that this is what they meant about a quilting bee though. :lol:

Put your darning foot on, drop your feed dogs and then try a simple loop de loop. This is easier than a leaf or vine and almost always looks good. You can practice with a pencil and paper to get the feel for the design. I think you could probably learn to do this in just a couple of days. Remember when FMQ move your hands slowly and run the machine fast.

Love the inspectors! Quilt is beautiful, can't wait to see your FMQ!

(Can't get my feed dogs to drop; dogs are clearly annoyed that there is no canine inspector in the house.)

If you want to hand quilt the leaves, just do a few of the leaves that connect and are near the center of the border.
Love the pattern and quilt.

Since you can't drop the feeddogs can you reduce the pressure on the pressure foot? If so, you can still free motion quilt.

By the way, I forgot to tell you that is a really great quilt!

Ooo great idea!

If I can't fix the machine (I *really* want to FMQ around the leaves), I'll try the lattice. Thanks!

And hopefully, I'll get a decent photo to share of the whole quilt.

Thanks, Polly. I will try reducing the pressure on the pressure foot. Still learning about this "new" machine. (Had it for a month.) I swear I've learned more about quilting and machines in the almost three months I've been on this board than in my 40 years of (off-and-on) sewing.

-- Jillaine

I've found that I don't really have to lower the feed dogs to free motion. Well, actually they won't lower. My machine is pretty old and I just have a plate that covers them. Anyway, you could try free motioning without lowering the feed dogs. I just did a whole bunch of free motion feathers that way.

I would free motion around the leaves and veins and then do close stipple or meander in the background spaces. There would be no need to stop and start - it could be continuous. If you have not sandwiched it yet, extra padding in the leaves (ala trapunto) could add oomph as well. Happy quilting!

Jillaine, nice job on the cornerstones. Even though you work fast, I agree that the loop-de-loops would be a reasonable way to go, capturing a leaf cluster, rather than individual leaves.

I handquilt and would most likely quilt around the groups of leaves rather than individual leaves and perhaps quilt vanes in some leaves in the each group.

I think I remember reading somewhere, sometime, that you could tape an index card over the feed dogs if you couldn't lower yours and that would keep them from grabbing your fabric. I would think that you would still need to eliminate the pressure from the presser foot so you could move the fabric. I know I have a different throat plate for one of my machines that covers the feed dogs but they don't lower.

I still like the trellis idea.

I would outline the leaves and stiple the light green around the leaf, very pretty quilt

The attachment with the circle is a darning foot. You use it for free motion quilting...........

Please don't be hard on yourself. You obviously have a good eye for design and color.

The pieceing skill thing will happen. Remember, we do this for a creative outlet not to give the quilt police something to do. If anyone disses your piece tell them I said to say "Bite me."

I like this idea!

As some others said, you can just tape an index card over the feed dogs. As another person mention also, you can just fmq with the feed dogs up. I have done this on several occasions and found that it kept me from making some of those big darn long stitches when the quilt moved too much while quilting. My stitches we more consistent. Might want to try both ways and see what works for you. Good luck.

I like this idea.

You've gotten a lot of advice here. Have you decided what to do? I feel like we are almost overwhelming you with suggestions. Can't wait to see a pic of the finished quilt. Good luck.

I want to try the fmq but have to fix the feed dogs (feed the fixed dogs?) first. In mean time working on other projects; today I am downtown temping.
Thanks!

If you feed them, they may be more cooperative.lol

Unless you appliqued those leaves, don't worry about it.

Update:
Fixed my machine (with a HAMMER, for goodness sake-- the sewing machine equivalent of kicking the TV!)

So I can now lower my feed dogs, and WHOAH!!! The person who said that it takes awhile to learn FMQ is right!!! I had no idea how tricky it would be. So THAT's not going to happen with THIS quilt.

I then tried "FMQ" with the feed dogs up in normal position. I can make this work on a small piece of fabric, but not sure I cane make it work on the lapsize quilt. Gotta move the fabric around so much!

A number of you have lked the idea of a lattice design.

Could someone point me to a template, or example of a trellis design for the quilting? Thanks.

-- Jillaine

The Hammer ~ that's called percussive maintainance.

The trellis - Use your ruler to draw diagonal lines both ways across your quilt, you should wind up with diamond shapes. I use Crayola washable markers. They come in great colors that show up on every color fabric. Then just stitch on the lines. Guess you could make them straight across and up & down but I think the diagonal lines would be more appealing to the eye. Good luck. Glad you got your machine fixed.lol

would you do the trellis over the top of the leaves or only in the background?

Why not some of each? That way it would look like the leaves are growing on both sides of the trellis. Oh, you might want to put two rows of stitching kinda close together to make it look like the wood of the trellis. Then the wider diamond spaces would look like the spaces between. But then again that is twice as much stitching and time and I know you are on a deadline.

Why not some of each? That way it would look like the leaves are growing on both sides of the trellis. Oh, you might want to put two rows of stitching kinda close together to make it look like the wood of the trellis. Then the wider diamond spaces would look like the spaces between. But then again that is twice as much stitching and time and I know you are on a deadline.