Rachel

I've done several and while I was doing them, thought they weren't going very well, but after it was all done and washed, I couldn't even find the mistakes that bothered me most when I was doing it. Hang in there, you'll get it.

I really like the Quilt Halo, if you're doing smaller designs.

Rachelcb80

If your stitches are too small it's because you're not moving the fabric fast enough. You can do one of two things; slow down your needle speed so your hands are better matched to it's speed, or keep your needle speed the same and move your hands faster.

I'm not sure how you're doing it now but when I was using my Brother it had three max speed settings (thankfully my Bernina has a much wider range now). I would set it on the middle one so when I pressed my foot pedal, the max speed was set. This way it was basically an on/off deal. I didn't have to try and keep my foot pedal pressure even and worry about that. I could focus all my attention on what my hands were doing. You may already be doing this though.

Jingle

I always do FMQ and I have read all kinds of things about it. Practice,practice is about all I can say and relax. You have to get your speed moving the quilt in tune with how fast to make the machine go. Drop feed dogs. All this has been said thousands of times.

sewgull

sorry you got the wrong info.
Try this one- http://www.daystyledesigns.com

DJ

What she said . . . Mine always looks better when done than I think it's going to while working on it.

sewcrafty

When I got my new machine and started trying out the FMQ on it and found it was sooooo much easier than with the old machine. I set my speed between med - low and just took my time. The stitches really didn't come out bad at all. Are you maybe being a little too critical of yourself? :-)

Prism99

It helps a lot to have a large, flat, slippery surface to the left of your machine. Here is a Youtube video on how to make this kind of surface inexpensively:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g14go...u0c&playnext=1

I have found that I can FMQ much longer standing up, without any shoulder pain or back pain.

stillwaters

What a visual!!!! I laughed my head off! Thanks, katesewnsew!!! You made my evening! :lol:

LucyInTheSky

Breathe, pause, and slow down. It's okay to stop. It's okay to not go 100 mph. Difficult for me to remember sometimes :D

gmcsewer

I have done some on small pieces and then join them with a quilt as you go (qayg) technique. A friend gave me some rubber fingertips with little nubs on the one side. When I wear these, I have good control. I also set my speed at medium and find I am more consistent. For a recent wool applique design of a rooster, I lightly drew in a sunrise behind the rooster with rays coming above it. Then I just sewed on the lines resewing to go to the next area. Even added a post with grain lines for the rooster to perch on. For the grain lines, I did lock stitches at the top and bottom, jumped to the next line etc. Clipped the thread connecting them. Very pleased with the result and it is not just the stippling I usually do. On my avatar, I did the center medallion and the four corner triangles with small stippling.