patdesign

One other thought which wont be helpful for this quilt, but I have learned to modify some of the quilt as you go ideas combining with Marti Michells book and I now fmq on large but manageable segments and join them, as I cannot handle a full size quilt on a domestic machine and a long arm and frame are not ever in my future, $ and space!

QuiltE

What a great idea, PinkIris ... your path/line makes total sense!

Elaine433

I started with practice quilt sandwiches made of muslin and warm and natural. I used the muslin because I didn't want to waste good fabric but the batting is what I had planned to use for the quilt. I made a bunch of these about 20 x 20". I put on a pair of those cotton garden gloves with the little rubber nibs on the palms and fingers. I took my book and made sure I had the machine set right for free motion quilting/darning. I had read every article I could find online and watched all the vidios. I was all ready.....now the most important thing.....RELAX. I read one blog where she told you
to have a glass of wine first. This is suppose to be fun. It is not suppose to be perfect. Sit down with a pencil and paper and draw a squiggly continuous line in a 3" square area then go out the that area and keep going. It is all practice.
Even now that I have done a bunch of quilts, I always find that by the time I am half way through the quilt, the movement is easier, more natural.
I don't rip out the quilting unless there is something wrong with the tension. The easy way to avoid that is when you have to change the bobbin or rethread or anything where you move the quilt out, take out one of the practice quilt sandwiches and do a few meandering stitches on that. If there is a problem, you will see it before you put your quilt back in.

hperttula123

Practice on paper or a dry erase board. You need to build your muscle memory. After that, practice on some not so nice fabric. I did my practicing on cat beds my mom and I made for the animal shelter. Cats wouldn't care if I messed up. I also practiced on bigger chunks of fabric. Some turned out really good and I just put binding on them and used them for my son to play on when he was a baby.

jeaninmaine

This lady has some really nice practice runs for feathers, maybe you could practice stippling using the same type of practicing. http://featheredfibers.wordpress.com...hand-feathers/

Stitchnripper

boyohboy I love reading all of your suggestions. I don't find meandering all that hard but I am still practicing on coordinating the speed of my hands with the speed of the foot pedal. Once I find the sweet spot I know it, but, it is still work for me about 10 FMQ quilts later, to get there. I am not going to give up. And I agree that once it is done, it is hard to find "mistakes". Don't give up and practice, practice, practice.

kcferrel

I am working diligently on my Fmq skill. Recently I was in a class where we started drawing our designs on a piece of paper. This will help you to train your brain and it works. Next, I shortened my stitch length considerably.
Next, try drawing you path onto you quilt with a marking pen, I love the frixion pens, they erase with heat and friction of the iron.
I am also practicing forgiveness for lack of perfection.
I feel the best tip I have been given is to practice on paper, I went and got an artist sketch pad and I sit and doodle, practice, draw every night while I watch tv.
Leah day http://www.daystyledesigns.com/365difficultymain.htm is An excellent resource on the web.
Another resource I like is the book mindful meandering http://www.amazon.com/Mindful-Meande.../dp/1571205071
this is a skill and it takes time to cultivate... Hope I have provided some resources and ideas. I keep working at it and I am getting better. I also got some machingers quilting gloves which are worth the cost ($9.00)

nantucketsue

I am also a free motion learner and use old quilted placemats (most of the original quilting has worn away) but these are perfect for practise and I don't have to waste time making sandwiches.

wendiq

jeaninmaine.....The site you gave is WONDERFUL. I've got it bookmarked and plan to use the suggestions on my dry erase board and then some placemats........ Thank You!

ragqueen03

this is such an interesting thread! I haven't attempted to fmq on my machine yet but see it in the near future. One question I have - what about using the stencils you see at the fabric stores? I went to a new quilt shop that opened ( it is only 10 minutes from home - this is bad - very bad - lol) and bought a couple of stencils to try for table runners and such. I do have my first quilt top that i want to get quilted but i don 't think i am ready to attempt it just yet. sounds like the best advice is practice, practice, practice!