What is the difference in allover, egde to egde, and freehand quilting? I thought it was all the same thing.

Free hand means hand guided, this is what we draw with the machine.
you can do pantographs free hand with a laser light.

All over is the same thing as e2e.

I have a Statler which means it is computerized, it does the moving of the machine. Many of the patterns I used free hand are in a digital program I use on my Statler. I just put in the patterns. you can look at many of the LAQ's here on the site. If you search the name mine is Suezquilts...

Enjoy this process. Searching this site is extremely interesting, get a cup of coffee.

I wish there were a term to separate free motion/freehand quilting that is not done with pantos, or stencils, or drawing first from those that are. They are lumped together which I think makes it very confusing,

It is subject to intepretation as well. My definition of freehand means it is 100% yours, not a panto at all! To me following a premarked design, be it a panto, a stencil or a drawing done on tissue paper is not free hand. Yes you are manipulating the machine without aid of a computer with your hands but you are simply tracing over a design not free handing it with no pre marking what so ever. In my mind the definition of freehand means NO MARKING and having NO PATTERN to follow.
E2E or End to End can be free handed or following a panto. An all over stipple or abstract design can be considered E2E as well as a pantograph with the same motif repeated from one end of the quilt to the other.

I think it should be this way, but there a lot of people that lump them together as freehand/free motion.

think about when we were in elementary school. What did the teacher call a drawing you did when you were not copying or tracing? In my day it was called a freehand drawing. Same with quilting. I think it always meant that it is just people use the terms fast and loose. Same with mixing meandering and stippling. A meander is that doodle that can run any gammit of sizes. Stippling is a known quilting term that has been around for centuries and it means close densely quilted design where the stitch direction changes every 2 to 3 stitches. Vastly different then a meander but a meander can be so tight and small on a quilt it resembles stippling. I think that is where the terms morphed and blended.

i've never heard that free hand meant computer stitched, panto, or quilting/groovy boards.

free hand in my local area is considered the quilter moving the sewing machine to make a design.

it can be done with temp. markings (chalk, water soluble pen, etc) on the quilt or not.

karen mctavish marks her quilts all the time and by your definition none of her work would be freehand?

here's a link to her quilting on youtube and you can clearly see that her top is completely marked with her quilt design

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE5yMzshkNI

Karen says on this youtube clip that she is using a ruler, so wouldn't it be rulerwork rather than freehand?

I am a longarmer and I do everything free hand and free motion.
My machine is not computerized.

Pantos is following a paper pattern from the back of the machine with a laser light. This can also be called edge to edge or E2E.

All over pattern or E2E can be either free hand or panto. If I do a free hand meandering, ie... leaves.

Custom work is free hand ,free motion using rulers and your imagination. Most LA use chalk or disappearing ink to mark certain areas with a hand drawn pattern.

Using pattern boards,groovy boards is used from the back of the machine with a stylus to make the over all pattern AKA E2E.

Hope this helps :-D

I think the confusion may be between free-hand and hand-guided. Following a panto with a laser is hand-guided not free-hand. Creating your design as you go without a drawn pattern is free-hand. Semantics get us every time. :)

You might need a pot of coffee! This place is wonderful! So much eye candy & good info!

Jeri, sorry to hijack your thread, these definitions are just one of my pet peeves.

Karen McTavish is an extremely talented artist and I am a huge fan, in fact I am taking a class with her next month and I will ask her what her interpretation of it is. But in respect to my comment, absolutely not, I would not say NONE of her work would be freehand. She does not mark out her famous McTavishing filler so that is my interpretation of freehand. I have seen videos of her doing Victorian feathers with no marking what so ever, and even more impressive is she quilts without a stitch regulator, again that is what I would define as freehand. I have also seen videos of her, and many other equally accomplished longarmers, make reference marks but the detail work is not marked out. Grids are often marked out to do continuous line freehand quilting.
I am not so stringent in my interpretation of freehand as that. What I meant is that by no means following a manufactured stencil mark, panto or some other commercial quilting pattern should be considered freehand. Nor should purchasing a preprinted whole cloth and following the marks with a LA be considered freehand but instead hand guided as opposed to computer or digitally guided. But any filler background work could be freehand.

Like Sadiemae, semantics, or more appropriately playing fast and loose with them, is also a pet peeve of mine. I feel that someone calling a handguided panto or following a stencil freehand is deceptive but that is just me. When I describe any LA quilting that I have done I am as open and honest about it as possible. I will say if I have followed a stencil, came up with a design myself and marked it did ruler work or used a template of some sort or if it is fly by the seat of my pants freehand with no marking at all or any mix of the techniques.

I too apologize for hijacking this topic.