Practice, practice practice. It does take a while to find 'your sweet spot' aka the the balance of stitch length, hand speed and needle speed. I am now comfortable with meandering, but I still pull out my practice 'sandwiches' to get into the 'groove' before starting on my quilt.

I recently took a FMQ class at our local shop. We worked on several patterns, and everyone loved the geometric meander the best. It was fun, easy, and looked great. Instead of loops, it's all straight lines... and if you find a spot you've missed, it's easy to go back and fill it in. But do practice on a spare sandwich first, making nice square corners takes a wee bit of practice. Have fun!

Stippling is too hard IMHO. I find myself caught in the corner too often. Try meandering and don't worry about where it goes - you can always loop back to get out of a hard spot.

And don't be too hard on yourself. Step back and look from 8-10 feet away.

First of all, get some scraps to practice on. And relax, it's supposed to be fun! I am willing to bet you're too hard on yourself - that the quilting is better than YOU think. Watch some of Leah Day's videos and other sites on the web. You get it!

I agree with those who say to practice on small items, doll bed quilts, animal beds...anything BUT a big quilt. I have just started learning to FMQ and after MANY small items, just started on a bigger, but still small quilt. The larger size is much more difficult, so there is a learning curve there too. Practice, practice........BEFORE doing anything important.

I think Patsy Thompson is awsome. http://www.patsythompsondesigns.com/ She has some wonderful informtion on her site.

THINK SPAGETTI, go on line on utube and check for videos, the hardest thing with fmq is learning to coordinate speed and movement so that you dont get your stitches too large or too small. I would practice small sandwich and not the quilt till it became 2nd nature.

I just purchased a lap sized dry erase board. I use it to practice doing a design while I am watching TV. It helps me to train the muscles to do what they should do on my machine. I've read this helps on so many sites that I decided to try it.....it does work for me......I suppose you can do it on paper, but for me, this is cheaper.....:)

girl. don't learn on a quilt.........take 2 pieces of material and batting make a placemat size and stipple on that. as you get use to it you will get better. don't think to much when you do it just move your material and go slow. once you get the hang of it. watch your stitches. to sloppy around a corner means you are going to fast and your machine can not keep up. lay the quilt aside and try a smaller piece. I love to stipple, Iv'e done it for years and do it on my home machine. Pm me is you have any questions
Dawn in Waco