1. I think I may have actually burned a few calories! My arms were burning!! :)

2. Always FMQ alone... While I couldnt see myself, I was doing some CRAZY things with my mouth! My tongue was all over the place! It was actually kinda funny (picture child with tongue stuck out as they are concentrating intently on coloring or some other project).

3. Always FMQ alone... My hands ended up in all different weird postions and I swear I used my arms a few times to push that fabric around! It must have looked ridiulous!

4. Buy extra thread... HOLY COW! It seemed as if I used a ton of the stuff!!

5. Be patient/slow and steady!!... (altho I wasnt.. I think wine would have helped with that...). I am not sure who I was racing against.. but I am sure that I won!!

What all are things you have learned during a first or subsequent session of FMQ on you DSM?? Tips? Tricks? Giggles??

Wow, sounds like you are learning as you go

they say

Practice Practice Practice

You can say that again! All I have for assistance is this board and google. :) And believe me, both have been great!

[quote=MellieKQuilter]You can say that again! All I have for assistance is this board and google. :) And believe me, both have been great![/quot

Added by Stitchnripper - Am I being redundant if I say it again? Practice Practice Practice.

:)
(Apparently I need more practice in Quoting Reply!!)

I had a lot of fun doing it, plan to practice lots! Just have to make the tops to practice on... :)

Don't forget to BREATHE!!! LOL

I keep holding my breath, and I hold my tongue funny :)

I like to quilt when alone because my family is distracting. I also like music on when I FMQ. Definitely remember to breathe..LOL. Wind several bobbins before you start and remember to check periodically that you haven't quilted sections without thread! Try to relax. Some say wine helps, but I don't drink wine, so I can't confirm that one. Practice alot! Laugh at your mistakes. Don't be afraid to try various designs. You may find you are better at one over another and you can build your confidence quicker sticking with what you are good at for awhile. Personally, I am not a good stippler! But I've done some practice feathers that don't look so bad.

Bottom line...just do it!

What is it with breathing? I constantly realize (when I'm sure I'm a sickly shade of red...) that I'm not breathing. A teacher I had gave a great tip. Hum a waltz. It helped me the rhythm was just what I needed to make my movements smoother. (it's still no Dancing with the Stars moment though...)

My tongue was all over the place! It was actually kinda funny (picture child with tongue stuck out as they are concentrating intently on coloring or some other project).

Sometimes it take years to perfect the tongue thing.

I just began doing FMQ on my new Juki. Luckily, I can say, the results have been wonderful with that machine...but my stitches will need practice!! I just belly laughed about your tongue comment, because I make weird mouth movements while doing it too...lol. I tend to tuck my lips like a toothless woman and back out...I do it so much, that my lips get worn out!! lol

Of course I am doing stippling to begin with, just to get the hang of moving the fabric, but I find myself quilting too densely I think, as my Bow Tuck needs absolutely no batting and is at attention..lol Any suggestions, besides wine?? lol

Last week I used a HQ Sweet 16 sit down. When I was going to do some FMQ on my DSM last night I decided that there was no reason not to turn my machine so that the head was oriented the same as the Sweet 16. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!

That changed my whole perspective. Of course, if you have your DSM set into a table you aren't going to be able to swivel it 90 degrees. But if you don't -- give it a try and see how it feels.

Great idea! Thanks!

:thumbup: :thumbup:

Loved your post! Maybe you could do it with water soluble thread, wash it, then do it all over again! No need to keep making quilts!

Way to go!

Sneezing during FMQ makes some pretty unpredictable results.

Ditto for hiccups.

And ... predict when the project will be finished and make an appointment with the chiropractor for that date.

HI Mellie,
Just this morning I was FMQ on my DSM and realized I was not as tense in my shoulders as I have been and am began to feel as though I was starting to make some progress. I have found that working in smaller areas (blocks) on doll quilts is helping me. In practicing to begin working on a doll quilt, I set up a smaller quilt sandwich to practice what was in my mind's eye. Here are a few photos to show what I was doing. Hope it helps and encourages you.

I am also finding that doing the more dense FMQ in smaller areas is giving me better control for when I do a larger quilt than a doll quilt.... I hope.

Side note: I do suggest
a. FREQUENTLY stopping with your needle down and turning the fabric in a better direction to continue going where you want to go
b. going off, if you can, to the side of the sandwich to get a fresh start
c. actually getting up and go do something else for a short bit (maybe view a few topics on this board). I found I was pleasantly refreshed when I returned.


:-D

I think I taught myself a few new words... rofl! :lol:

Thanks for the tips' just learning!

Your work looks great. I usually find myself clenching my teeth, make jaws hurt, I need to chew some gum. My Cockatiel tries to hollar louder than the sewing machine when I do FMQ. Tomorrow will be perfect weather so she is spending the day outside in her smaller cage. She makes me too tense when I'm trying to relax.

A friend showed me a trick to make help visibility and help back strain. Put a doorstop under your machine to angle it toward you. If you have your machine in a cabinet, you can angle the whole cabinet.

i have an 18 x 18 practice block that i warm up on and 'write' my name or my childrens name to check how much it looks like my handwriting - this gives me an indication of PROGRESS !!!!!!and the weird thing of the cabbage patch doll mouth, guilty of that here, i am remembering to breath and i think today is the day i will try wine ! oh, and swinging the machine around really helped, been doing that all week. Good Luck all happy FMQ

I had to change my bobbin thread in the middle of my FMQ'ing once. Didn't check to make sure the stitching on the back looked right. Imagine how upset I was when I finished and turned my quilt over....AWFUL. So glad it wasn't a large area but I sure wasted a lot of thread. So if you have to rethread while FMQ'ing, always check your stitching so you can correct any problems right away.

I have read this somewhere else on here but haven't tried it yet. I haven't done many quilts and have just started FMQ so I must give it a try. Thanks for the reminder
[quote=SharBear]Last week I used a HQ Sweet 16 sit down. When I was going to do some FMQ on my DSM last night I decided that there was no reason not to turn my machine so that the head was oriented the same as the Sweet 16. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!

HAHA! me too! As for the wine suggestion: a little bit is good; too much can lead to some interesting (and unintended!) designs. BUT, never have the wine glass in the same room! I wouldn't ever want to spill wine on my work.

One thing I've learned is to listen. If the sound of things changes, there's probably something wrong: bobbin thread out, tension has gone awry, needle is dull, thread isn't feeding correctly, I'm moving the fabric at a different rate....

Yes, I think I have perfected it. The tongue thing that is, not the FMQ. What I have learned:
1. Laugh at yourself. It makes FMQ much more fun.
2. Have a really good seam ripper as a good friend.
3. Stitches do not have to be perfect, only close. Unless you are entering in a show for judging, NO ONE is going to look at it with a magnifying glass.

O.K. What is DSM?

If you start out practicing on very small quilts it helps.
But with larger quilts I found that walking foot the center and free motion the border works out best.
Borders dont need to be shoved thru the machine so are much easier to handle.

I felt like you were describing me! I found during and after learning fmg that the seam ripper is your friend!

[quote=

O.K. What is DSM?[/quote]

DSM = Domestic Sewing Machine. Any standard sewing machine, not short/mid/long arm machine.

Great job. Your work is very pretty. All I've tried so far is the all over stitching on my Juki. I love quilting, it is my form of relaxing. I think my tongue is hanging out also and I make weird looking faces. I stand to do my quilting and my machine is turned 90 degrees, with my quilt rolled on pvc pipe so I can hold on to it. My DH said I should start trying new sewing patterns, but I don't know which one to try next.

Beautiful work! You are really getting the hang of it. And that is a gorgeous print you're working with. It will be a work of art when you're finished.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-46536-1.htm

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-46691-1.htm
I saved these links a long time ago. I have not tried it yet, but want to.

[quote=ShirlinAZ]Thank you! I've got three great ones. froggyintexas

Glassquilt, you are toooo much! :-P :-P :-P

2. Always FMQ alone...
You are so true.

I set a timer for 30 min. When it goes off, I do some stretches, drink a glass of water or "whatever", do the pit stops, check my email, then set the timer again and put the pedal to the metal!

I've noticed that alot of people recommend you practice on 12" squares but that didn't seem to work as well for me as a baby size quilt. It just seemed that by the time I got comfortable with my stitches I ran out of space with the squares where with the small quilts I could try all kind of different stitches. I have to try that 90 degree thing thanks for the tip.

[quote=Stitchnripper]*********************************************

My frustration is through the roof when I FMQ. Seems the more I practice the worse I get. I get myself into tight spots & end up with points or quick turns. I feel I'm trying too hard now & when I should be getting better I'm more dissatified with my work. It's like you're all looking over my shoulder. LOL. I can just hear you saying r-e-l-a-x. Yeah right.............Where's that wine?

great tips! Love the flowers!

There is one important FMQ tool that hasn't been mentioned! Right now I'm quilting a 7x8' queen size with a lot of huge appliques on it... very heavy and hard to handle. My DH holds the rolled ends (sometimes folded ends) and moves it this way or that according to which way my head jerks. There is no way I could handle it all by myself.

Yes, he is for hire, for only $1000/hour! And you pay shipping.

Yes, the quilt has grown like Topsy and may never be practical on a bed. It is my first quilt for us (after about 60 for others). We designed it together and now he's helping me sew it.

Back off ladies, he's mine :>)

LOL!!! I find my head swaying with the fabric design and my tongue doing funny things. Sometimes I wish I had a mirror so I could laugh at myself!!!

[quote=ShirlinAZ]It can also be darling sewing machine when things are going well or d***** sewing machine when things aren't going quite so well. :D ~ Chris