Hello alikigirl, Thanks for the advice! I had raised the height because of the battilizer plus layers of fabrics and stitches. I will try this in my testing. Thanks again.

My friend is doing the store sample also. She is using cotton batting and no show mesh. From past experience we have learned it is more work than it is worth to do the backing step. She has not had any problem. It is a beautiful quilt the picture does not do it justice.

When I have this problem. I switch to a top stitch needle. It helps

Check the height of your presser foot for the embroidery mode. I had this same experience once and it turned out that my presser foot height had been moved from the default setting. I don't know how it happened.....embroidery machine gremlins, I think. The only other thought is....could it be the battilizer. I have never worked with that; maybe try one block with standard batting. I feel your frustration as I have been in your place. Hope your problem is resolved soon.

I would try doing a block on different fabric? Although I did the Goosetrack Hoopsisters and Whole Earth on all batiks. I believe I used a needle that said embroidery needle. Are you using a thread stand? Good luck. I would also try a different brand of thread. I have found certain brands of thread don't work in my machine for FMQ.

I am not sure about madeira thread as personally I never did care for it as I did have trouble with it but have you changed position of your spool some you can turn over and the thread will come up from the bottom sometimes from the top and some threads only work standing up hope I'm clear on this good luck

Hi Stashelf, If you don't add the backing, do you just use regular embroidery bobbin thread instead of switching to matching thread? That may seem like a dumb question, but I don't know if they do something different to the stitches to account for the thicker bobbin. thank you!

Hello meanmom, did you use batik backing on the Whole Earth quilt and do the decorative quilting through the backing? Did you pre-wash the batiks? I'm using Microtex 90/14 needles as recommended by Hoopsisters. I have a 10 spool thread stand behind my machine. In all my other embroidery projects I use the Madeira Polyneon and have never had an issue, but others are also suggesting to use different thread. Thank you for your response!

I use regular embroidery bobbin thread. I do the backing the same as any quilt.

I don't have an embroidery machine, but did an all batik quilt on the long arm and had lots of shredding with one of my threads--finally figured out that the quilt was too tight on the frame. Don't know how this translates to an embroidery machine, but is there a way to loosen the tension?