Okay then I agree with feline fanatic then. And it really doesn't look that bad to me, it looks more like an heirloom or an antique quilt now.

Cari

Marion,

I like your quilt and love following your progress on learning new techniques. Perhaps you can add more quilting in between the designs. I've just started looking at these designs. Have you seen these? See how the quilting is closer between designs? Perhaps something here will give you some more tips for your project.

https://inspiration.meaningoflifedes...ng-collection/

Main site if you are interested.

https://meaningoflifedesigns.com/collections/all

Hope you are still having fun with your machine!

If you attempt this again - I would do the embroidery with the batting behind, that should help with the puckering you see in the first pic. Did you use any stabilizer, even a washaway kind? You could also look into quilt-as-you-go, and embroider the designs on separate blocks, then quilt as you sew them together, or not quilt at all, & maybe cover the seams with wide ribbon or lace. I find a looser tension also helps with puckering when embroidering.
I think you have done a great job with your quilting

Will you tell us where the emb. designs came from? A couple look familiar.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement, and thanks felinefanatic for the tips. I will definitely try misting it, and letting it dry and see what I can do from there.

RhondaK ... my learning experiences are a toss up between hilarious and oh good lord what have I done!!!! I'm just hoping my posts helps others to not make the same mistakes!!!!

Gay - I have over 10,000 designs and I haven't a clue where they came from ... I do know they are called persian circles so that might help!

Marion,

Well I just love your attitude! What process did you use for hooping and/or stabilizer(s)?

Batting? What was the process? Did you embroider over batting and background fabric?

I used a strong stabilizer tear away stabilizer from pellon. I only put the batting on after I had done the embroidery. So the batting and the backing was on when I did my free motion quilting.

I did pre-wash, dry the fabric before I did anything. And I starched it like there was no tomorrow LOL

The reason I didn't embroider through all three layers is that I did that before and I found the back of the quilt looked really messy and tight. BUT, I did different designs, so maybe that was the issue.

I think what I might have to do in the future is a test on one of the blocks with the three layers and see how it looks.

Also - feline's tips to quilt as close as possible to the design to make it pop is great ... I am going to try that this weekend.

Right now I'm working on another one in black and purple LOL

You've gotten really good advice here. One thing I would have done differently was to have used the same color thread for all the quilting as the embroidery. By using a different color, you have taken the eye away from your focal point, the embroidered squares. I, also, agree that some type of echo and denser quilting, especially a cross-hatch would enhance your original embroidery designs as opposed to contrasting. BTW....you have done better than I could have done.

Edited to add: I would have used a washaway or soft embroidery stabilizer. Leaving the stabilizer in will give it an artificial stiffness that may never go away. My goal is to have a soft, feels the same all over, quilt. That's one reason I have been reluctant to do much embroidery on mine. Also, a less dense embroidery pattern may be a better choice on the whole cloth. I have mostly seen the denser patterns used in blocks that are sewn together with a sashing, then finished the quilting.

I went back & looked at your pictures and realized the colors were your quilting lines. The final product looks pretty good.

I tool feline fanatic's advice and here's where I am right now ... just have to do the borders

This is not an FMQ method I'm really comfortable with, I prefer to follow lines, but it gave me some practice.

Feline - THANK YOU so much for your advice. I'm very grateful for the people on here that have the experience and can help guide me through my mistakes. I've been quilting for over 10 years, but when you leave the box and try something new, it's like being in grade 1 all over again!

And yes, the embroidery does POP! Right up!

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