Good idea on the garden gloves. I have been using finger cots and they're less than ideal...sweaty fingers and they're fragil. The quilt shop was out of cloves when I signed up for class and I was going to stop at Joann's today...will check Walmart or Target.

Here's a real newbie question....Do you sew on the paper after you have trace a patten on it? Has anyone tried the rolls of border that you stick onto the fabric? I really do need something to follow to stitch!!!! Don't really like the idea of drawing pattern on fabric...sounds really tedious.

I have done quite a bit of free motion quilting and each time I start I get anxious about it. You just have to jump in. One thing I have found is that after washing the quilt, the puckering that occurs covers up mistakes. Instead of meandering I find it easier to do swirls in different sizes. STop with needle down when you need to reajust your hands at a natural stopping place, which for me is in the center of the swirl when I change direction. It does take practice and is much cheaper than sending out to a long arm quilter. Have fun and breath!

there is somthing called golden threads paper, it is like tissue paper, you trace your pattern onto it, pin to fabric and sew over it, it is a bit teadious to remove all the paper bits afterward but it does work great!