I used to hand quilt and loved doing it, but it was way too slow. I'm in my 70s and have a lot more stash to use up. So now, when I get a couple of quilt tops pieced, I drive to a city about 90 miles away, and rent time on a computerized long arm quilting machine - love using those. I'm able to stay overnight with my son and his family and I have a mini-vacation.

I've been reading about people's stash. How many yards of a fabric does one buy when there are no immediate plans for it's use?

I think I fit right here also. I tried hand quilting on a frame. It went very slow and sometimes not so well. I've done it following near the seam and I've tried it 1/4 inch away from the seam using quilters' marking tape (whatever it's called). It looks alright to someone who hasn't quilted.

Now I do machine quilting -- SID or cross-hatching. I also do hand lap quilting with or without a hoop. I've had a stroke on my right side and I'm right-handed. I'm fine but a bit clumbsy. So at times it goes well and at times kinda shaky. It took over 6 months for me to do my last attic windows (Can be seen before quilting on a thread MY ATTIC WINDOWS) The graduate (DGD) loves being wrapped in it. That's good enough for me.
I'm doing a machine lap D9P quilt right now by cross-hatching. My next move is to sandwich my kaleidoscope quilt top that I made a few years ago. I can have it ready to stitch during those long "football-watching" months. [Can you tell I don't like football?] So just feel free to do what you can do and enjoy the process. Skill and confidence comes with practice. I could never win a contest, but as far as my grandchildren and relatives are concerned, the quilts are winners. Just do what you like and learn as you can. Good luck.

I think I fit right here also. I tried hand quilting on a frame. It went very slow and sometimes not so well. I've stitched following near the seam and I've stitched 1/4 inch away from the seam using quilters' marking tape (whatever it's called). It looks alright to someone who hasn't quilted.

Now I do machine quilting -- SID or cross-hatching. I also do hand lap quilting with or without a hoop. I've had a stroke on my right side and I'm right-handed. I'm fine now but a bit clumbsy. So at times it goes well and at times kinda shaky. (OH, and I cant' used a thimble. {{{shame on me}}} It took over 6 months for me to do my last attic windows (Can be seen before quilting on a thread MY ATTIC WINDOWS) The graduate (DGD) loves being wrapped in it. That's good enough for me.
I'm doing a machine lap D9P quilt right now by cross-hatching. My next move is to sandwich my kaleidoscope quilt top that I made a few years ago. I can have it ready to stitch during those long "football-watching" months. [Can you tell I don't like football?] So just feel free to do what you can do and enjoy the process. Skill and confidence comes with practice. I could never win a contest, but as far as my grandchildren and relatives are concerned, the quilts are winners. Just do what you like and learn as you can. Good luck

EDIT: And as you can see, I'm a klutz with the computer. Don't have a clue what happened here. I tried to edit, but the first one is the one I needed to make corrections. I suppose you get my gist. :lol:

I like the challenge of a free motion but only on smaller quilts. don't think I could do full or queeen size with free motion. For larger quilts, I also am a straight line quilter.

Where are you taking your class?

I am not above drawing quilting stitches with a marker on my quilt, or using floss to handquilt big 4 stitches to an inch. I am whatever I like type of quilter.

I do mostly FMQ and I love it, if you tense up it will show in your quilting. Just relax, wear gloves with rubber nubs and do it, the more you do the better you should be, when the binding is sewn on, wash and dry it, it will look great.

What is the best batting to use for FMQ, I have been trying bamboo, but I don't find it fluffy enough after washing, great for baby quilts as its not so hot and great for our Australian climate.

What is the best batting to use for FMQ, I have been trying bamboo, but I don't find it fluffy enough after washing, great for baby quilts as its not so hot and great for our Australian climate.

Straight line quilt the blocks and then go back and quilt the inside of the blocks. Just remember to sew one way to the left and the next row( side to side), go to the right, otherwise your quilt will want to angle that way. Then turn and go the other way (Top to bottom) There is a well known quilter that started doing her own quilts that way till she got more comfortable doing freehand in each block, then she started doing real freehand quilting. I have started doing small wall handings and table runners and I am working into larger items very slowly.

Meissner's at the main store in Sacramento. It's a whole series of 8 classes that starts with basic straight stitch quilting and the walking foot. It is 2 Thursdays in September, October, November, and December - all dedicated to quilting. The instructor is Florence Fong. First class is this Thursday.

I love FMQ. One tip that I got from leah Day's web site was to use a "supreme slider." It's a fantastic tool.. It's a sheet about 8 1/2" x 11" of a rubbery material that has a teflon coating on top. The rubbery side clings to your machine's flatbed and the teflon side is under your fabric. There is even a premade hole for the needle to go through. This little gadget reduces the friction from the weight of your quilt. It was a life saver for me.
That, and practise. For practise, I use small quilt sandwiches that I make out of scrap. Then I just practise writing my name with thread! after a while the shoulders relax because after all, it's only my name - how intimidating can that be! My avatar is a quilt that I did micro stippling in every block on the cream part. The leaf and heart are minimally stitched.

I do very little free motion. The feathers are beautiful, but haven't ventured into that yet.

I would love to hear how that is. I almost signed up for it myself!

Forgot to mention the supreme slider, great help to me

:thumbup:

I am a straight line quilter and use various stitches to stitch in the ditch. For example, the scallop stitch creates a great quilted look when the quilt is complete. I think the large quilting machines are great, but I prefer the quilted, coverlet look. If you are new at quilting, make a kid's quilt in squares using a kid's pattern with a solid square in between. It's a great start! Make one large enough, 40 inches by 50, so that the child can use it in day care, napping, and wrapping up. The double stitching, basic and quilting, creates a LASTING one until the child grows out of it. God bless your new adventure. Joan

i'm pretty new and self taught. i enjoy hand quilting and like to stencil on designs or draw them myself.

Most of the time, I just bow to the inevitable and SID everywhere. But every so often I get a wild hair and do some simple stippling.

As long as I remember to wear my quilter's gloves (the ones with the little sticky dots on the palm-sides), to look ahead of where I'm stitching (rather than where the needle is), and to move the foot pedal a tiny bit faster than I might think comfortable for me -- it works! Just be sure that there's nothing for your quilt to snag on, that you've got good ergonomics (neck and shoulders relaxed, forearms level, jaw unclenched). Then you can just let your mind "zone out" -- i.e., do a "zen" thing and get in touch with the stitching. Sounds kooky, but it helps!

And most of all -- don't sweat it. It's just a quilt after all! :lol:

Oh, yeah -- that slick slider doohicky is fabulous!! Well worth the money..........

I like to do my own quilting so I can say I did that quilt! So I have been anchoring the quilt with some SID and then meandering. As a result, I have had to have my Elna 6003 worked on and the timing fixed three times in about 10 months. As a result, I've decided to do only SID on my Elna using the walking foot. I think I'll look for an older machine on which the feed dogs will lower so I don't risk messing up my good machine any more. I think I'll look for an older machine that does straight stiches, will use a darning foot and is not computerized. This is my plan now. Who knows what I'll do a month or two down the road? I ordered the pattern for the home-built quilting table. Now I just need to get DH to built it and to convince him I need a mid or long arm machine. I'll sleep on these ideas a few nights and then see what happens.

Free motion improv -- you could not pay me to stitch in the ditch.

RST

When I was a new quilter I hand quilted everything.
Three years later I moved to South Carolina and joined a
lovely quilt guild. I learned much easier ways to do quilty things. I also learned to machine quilt and machine applique. For crib-twin size quilts I quilt those on my home machines; either my Viking Sapphire 875 or the Pfaff 1222E. I like to free motion quilt using machineger quilters gloves, its faster, but I do straight line quilting sometimes. (I hate marking quilts!) Its fun to use my decorative stitches to quilt with and often use a simple one for stitching the binding down on kids charity quilts.
Now I make my quilts all by machine. I like mostly traditional patterns in bright colors.

a combination for me.