I couldn't find that book on Amazon. Do you have a link? It's just that $60 is a *lot* of money for a beginning quilter's book. There are many good ones on the market, most of them priced under $20 or $30.

Aside from the one block at a time method of dividing up a quilt, there is another method that makes quilting a large quilt easier. Basically you keep the top and backing intact, but cut the batting into 3 lengths (using a large curvy line). You sandwich and quilt the middle first with just the middle piece of batting inside, leaving a few inches on each side of the batting unquilted. You hand sew one of the remaining pieces of batting to the middle piece of batting, layer that side and quilt it, then do the same with the other side. This way there is much less batting under the arm of the machine at any one time, plus the finished quilt appears to have been quilted as a whole piece.

Cutting curves in the batting means the pieces will go together exactly when you re-connect them, plus there will be no obvious straight line in the quilt where the batting was pieced.

I have a book on that method, but can't remember the author at the moment. Will post if it comes to mind later.

I quilt big quilts in sections. I got the techniques from Marti Michell's book, Quilting in Sections, which I highly recommend.

There are much more reasonably priced books. Check out Martingale books and when I think of it, I will tell you another discount book site.

There are much more reasonably priced books. Check out Martingale books and when I think of it, I will tell you another discount book site. I have ordered from them and I get their catalog once in a while. Do you have a Joanns or Hancock Fabric by you? You could use the coupons from their newsletters to purchase a book.

I quilt the entire quilt. I just stuff it through and then fluff it up. I smooth out where I am quilting at the time. I also use an ironing board on my left side to help hold the quilt up so the weight doesn't drag it away from what I am trying to do. I do all the quilt in the ditch first as that kind of locks everything in place, then I proceed to do whatever other quilting I want to do.

Good luck and most importantly...have fun!

I do the whole quilt at once. I like the puddle method too. Rolling it up makes it too hard to handle. It seems to work for me.

I just discovered that stitching in the ditch helps out too!

I too just either roll it up on that side or somehow squeeze it in. I haven't been doing this long, so if you come up with a better way I would love it. 8)

Don't forget to go up to the top of this webpage, click on "Search" type in free-motion quilting
or machine quilting
or home quilting
You will find a lot of pages that have been put in here to answer all your questions and encourage you in your endeavor.
You will be fine :wink:

Another tip I learned is to QID with the monofilament on the top...That hides the fact that some of us are not quite sooo perfect....then do all your other quilting with whatever thread you prefer. I've been doing that and it does ..well, not really hide, but sure doesn't make those missing point jump out either!

Prism99. Do I understand this right, you do your quilting in 3 large sections? I'm trying to picture how to do this. Maybe my brain ran out of film!