You have received loads of good advice here.

The only thing I would add is a tip I was given. Find some fabric with a large floral print and just practice sewing around the flowers and leaves - over and over again. This will help you gain more control and confidence over smooth curves and circles by having a guide to follow.

I am glad you decided to take out the stitches and the advice here is excellent. the quilt is beautiful and worth saving. I also had problems trying to machine quilt and I went back to hand quilting - takes longer but I feel I have more control. good luck!

I think it is fabulous! Having been a quilter most of my life, now at 82 years old, I can see the beauty of a beginner quilter.

Please don't take the stitches out, just embellish a little more with appliques or embroidery.

Good Luck! When you make your next quilt decide on your quilting design before you make more than one block.

These are a couple of my latest. Quilting around middle blocks was the challenger.

Your quilt is a geometric design and so I think the quilting should be angular. If you want to try out a design, mark it out on clear plastic such as a sheet protector and lay it on your quilt. You will be able to see how the design fits the block without actually marking on the quilt. There are little rubber finger tips for using with FMQ. I use these because they are small and I only wear them on my pointer fingers and thumbs and it gives me a better grip on the fabric. I also find that it makes a difference how high my arms are in relation to the bed of the machine. We have an adjustable chair so I experiment to see where my best level is. Your top is so beautiful. Maybe you should be a piecer and let someone else do the quilting.

The design in the bottom row, middle, looks like it matches the design of the quilt. Since all the blocks are the same design, I think it would look better when finished if all the blocks had the same quilting pattern. I have such a time when i "do my own thing" as it usually doesn't turn out as I thought. So I am now following patterns and the APQ magazine even has the quilting patterns suggested.

I personally like the idea of having a glass of wine before beginning. lol 8-) :thumbup: 8-)

as a breast feeding mother the glass of wine is not on the menu, and as a young women with Alci's in the family and one who was starting to become one I "can't" drink. Don't even want to go there again. Even though that would probably help me out a lot. hehe
I am happy to report that I am down to only 3 and sort of a half of of a square of quilting left to remove. it was going faster than I had imagined. YEAH!!!! I think that I am going to go with the squares in squares in a lighter color thread. There is a good sale in thread at a local sewing machine shop. Only a dollar a roll for the silky thread.
I like the idea of hand quilting and FMQ, however I have no idea how to hand quilt and the FMQ, well I had tried to do that and it only got me birds nests in the quilt. Those are really really hard to get out right now. That was with the feed dogs down. I did better with the feed dogs up. Don't ask me why it worked better but it did. I wish that I had a ton of money to get all the cool gadgets that make quilting "easier" and more fun but will have to be patient and save up for them. Oh such a life of a quilter who is not a trillion air. hehe. :-) we all have learned to survive with what we have and dream about what we don't. hope everyone is enjoying their quilts.

google skinning a quilt, it will be faster to take out the stitches.
I would SID around the blocks to stabilize them before doing any quilting inside the blocks.

[quote=StitchinJoy]stitchinjoy, what is the attatchment that she is using on her machine? and is there one like that for a Janome. I have been using a regular foot on mine. I need to get a 1/4 foot so that I can make my seams easier and I think that I will be able to move my fabric better if I have a foot on there that doesn't squish the fabric so much. I know that I should know what all the feet are called that you can us when sewing especially for quilting but I have never seen one like that.

there is a really neat foot called the Big Foot and is good for FMQ. I have also used a darning foot-it looks like a wire that is coiled into a funnel shape, and it works well for me too.