I have only machine quilted a couple of small wall hangings so it wasn't important that the stitching be really sturdy but now I'm doing a baby quilt. I prefer to hand quilt but I'm in a time crunch here.
I'm not very good at free motion quilting yet so I plan to either stitch in the ditch or stitch diagonally in a criss-cross pattern with the walking foot.
Haven't decided yet which of those 2 ways to do it. Have to let the quilt talk to me a little longer.

1. Do I use machine quilting thread in the bobbin too?
2. Why do my machine instructions say not to back stitch with the walking foot?
3. If I can't back stitch how do I secure the thread at both the beginning and end?

Thanks in advance for all the help I know I'm going to get from all of you.

Here are some answers to your questions. Others may have a different opinion and post answers, too.

1. Yes, you can use machine quilting thread in the bobbin. It can be either the same color or different, depending on the look you are going for on the back of the quilt.
2. The walking foot has an arm, which attaches to the screw on the side holding the needle in place. The up and down motion of the screw and needle cause the feed dogs in the walking foot to move. These will always move forward as the needle goes up and down. You take the risk of breaking the walking foot, if you use it in reverse.
3. If you quilt the diagonal stitches across the quilt, you can just run them off the end of the quilt. These ends would be covered and secured by the binding. If you choose a different quilting style, which does not go to the edges of the quilt, you must bring the bobbin thread to the top and tie off the ends together. Then bury the knotted ends within the batting of the quilt, using a hand sewing needle.

You can also change to a very small stitch (or even stitch-in-place) to secure threads at beginning and end if you are worried about them coming loose before you get the binding on.

Backstitching with a walking foot causes the thread to jam up.

You can also do wavy lines with the walking foot and feed dogs up. That can be a lot faster than straight lines because you don't have to worry so much about accuracy. Just "steer" the quilt as it is feeding into the walking foot. You cannot do tight curves this way, but it's easy to do gentle curves this way. You could cross-hatch them or just do one direction.

I'm so glad you posted those questions. I have almost the exact same problems..LOL

I too have a baby quilt I need to get finished by the weekend and I have never machine quilted anything except a couple potholders. I will not be doing a running stitch across the quilt though. I think stitching in place would work well. Can't wait to give it a try.

What if I want to stencil on a design for border that is loopy? Do I put the feed dogs down and do it like FMQ or just normal with a walking foot. I feel so ignorant about MQ.

Lynette

Isn't it amazing what we learn here? Seems that I learn something new everyday.

The walking foot will attempt to feed the fabric evenly in a straight line. So, the loops would need to be very large to use the walking foot. I would lower the feed dogs and do them free motion.

Thanks:)