Okay, I am to put the backing on today and wonder if anyone has an idea of a way to quilt this top. Do I stitch in the ditch ? Or should I do a kind of outline around some areas? I am not so good at free motion yet, I keep breaking the thread.

Any wisdom is welcomed.

BTW, does anyone know what I should do to stop the thread breaking during free motion quilting?

No clue as to how to stop the thread from breaking, but ..... if you send it to me, I'll give it a good home! :)

Now that was a real compliment tlrnhi! Thank you so very much. This project is going to have a home with a little boy who can hardly wait for his "Grammy Grams" to land in that airplane.

When he was 4 he told his pre kindergarten teacher I lived at the airport and any time he wanted to see me his mommy would drive him there and I would come out the big doors! :roll: :)

Oooh thats nice! Your Grandson will be thrilled with it.

I have recently started free motion quilting, and got thread breakage too. Am no expert but I found that I just had to tweak the tension until it stopped happening. I guess all machines differ (?) but I have a Pfaff 1122, and have to have the tension on 4 or 5, whereas regular sewing I only have between 1 and 3. I also think it broke if I moved the quilt too fast too. Just my humble, inexperienced opinion!

It's going to be great no matter what you decide, but I'm thinking if you did a diagonal grid across it, so some of it would be in the ditch (ie on the sides of the red striped diamonds) and some of the stitching would cross the none-ditch areas on the blue and white pinwheels. It would tie in with the diagonal lines in the piecing very nicely I think? A blue and white varigated thread would show up nicely on the white. Then if you are feeling brave you could free motion stipple on the border.

Send it to me, I've got nothing to work on at the moment (cash flow/fabric flow problems!) I'll do it for you!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

I would say stitch in the ditch or outline. Both would be fine. As far as the thread breaking, sorry, can't help you out there!

i love this quilt. fun pattern and colors.
sorry about the problems you are having with thread. i had the same problem and nothing i did helped for long... until i changed the brand of thread i was using. my machine does not like METTLER for free motion quilting. it is fine for piecing and stitch in the ditch. but free motion seemed to fray so badly i couldn't accomplish anything. it just made a mess. i even took my machine in for maintainence early cause i thought maybe it was tweeked. i have a pfaff 2056 and it does require regular attention. i was so discouraged. then i started experimenting with different brands of thread. i discovered that my machine can't free motion with mettler thread. now i use GUTERMANN and i am a happy camper. good luck. free motion is so fun i know once you solve the breakage problem you will love free motion.

Do not know if this would work to stop thread from breaking while FMQ, but this is a tip from a class I took for free motion embroidery. When threading the machine, DO NOT run thread thru that last little clip thing just above the needle. Then of course the tension is adjusted lower. On some machines, there is a screw to turn which adjusts the bobbin tension. These machines have the bobbin system where you have to reach under the machine and the casing that holds the bobbin is removed.That litttle boy will be so happy to see you. Have fun

Very nice quilt, I just know your grandson is absolutely going to love it. I think outlining would look very nice for quilting it.

I love the quilt and your grandson will too! He'll be excited to see Grandma. I would probably do the stitch in the ditch and some echo.

If you're looking for something easy to do (no free motion), you could just cross-hatch the center of the quilt at 1/2"-3/4" intervals using the pinwheels and diamonds to determine the angles. Then maybe echo quilting in the border around the entire quilt, like large concentric rectangles, perhaps at a narrower distance apart (1/4"-1/2") than the cross-hatching. At my present skill level, that's what I would do, anyway. And it would look nice, too.

Thanks so much for the ideas.

Re thread breaking: I have a Husqvarna Viking 870 Quilt machine and it does all the tension regulating automatically. Actually, it does just about everything automatically except the dishes and the laundry. :lol:

I fear it is my ineptness and lack if experience that is the culprit. The lady at the fabric store told me I need to learn to sew at a constant speed. Back to the practice sessions for me! :evil:

This suggestion would require a lot of twisting and turning of the quilt if you want to use a walking foot. But I was thinking of a square spiral in the striped squares. Start at one corner and quilt around all 4 sides. Stop about 1/2-1" short on the 4th side, turn and repeat around all 4 sides (stopping 1-2-1" short and repeat again). All of the white pieces are triangles. So you could repeat this quilting in the white triangles and this would result in triangular spirals. Of course, this would be a lot easier with a darning foot because you wouldn't have to twist and turn the quilt. The quilting lines wouldn't have to be exactly straight or symmetrical. It might even be more interesting if they were a little wonky.

I was going to suggest a 1/4" echo inside the blue pinwheels and a square in the centre of the red squares but I like the spiral idea from key4unc better! The border could be stipples or just parallel diagonal lines radiating out from the centre to each corner. I love it BTW - it's such striking colours and a strong design element complemented by your fabric choices. My preference is always to accentuate a strong design like this rather than do an all over quilting pattern which might detract from it. Turning it through the machine won't be easy, I know and my quilting suggestion is coloured by the fact I would hand quilt! But however you do it, it will be stunning and your GS will love it!

I LOVE this idea of square spiral, even if it is a kind of oxymoron, huh?

Let you know what happens.

Love from Norway

Very nice. I'm sure whatever you decide to do will look great!!
Practice, Practice, your free motion will come!!

I am beginning to learn that practice just may become my middle name now that I have begun to quilt.

I am so encouraged because I can actually see myself that as I learn new techniques and tricks each quilt I make seems to be a bit more well made.

In the fall I hope to begin my first bed-size quilt. I may have to throw myself on my neighbor's mercy and ask if I can lay it out on her family room floor. Our little place has limited floor space - to say nothing of my furry helpers. :lol:

Love the quilt, reminds me of Peppermint candy.

Can't help with the quilting, don't machine quilt here.


Ninnie

I will give you a couple tips that helped me ok? When free motion quilting, you have to use a heavier needle because the eye is larger and they give you a larger channel for the thread to move through. An embroidery or titanium one is a good choice. Then make sure to use a good thread. I had to get rid of my coats and clark, it wanted to fuzz up my tension disks and cause trouble. I bought metzler and the thread sets at connecting threads. (can't remember the brand name) but they work great.

Then it is a matter of dropping the feed dogs and using a slow and even motion to move the fabric around.

I hope this helps you some. There are tons of good books out on the subject, maybe you will want to buy one for reference. I did and it really helped me.

I like the way you used the stirpes to indicate movement, nice top. I do not do the quilting part, a local quilt shop does my hard work, then I bind it and all done, phewwww!!

Automatic tension? That's all very well, but how does your machine know that you want to FMQ? There must be a way to adjust it somewhere, isn't there? Another thought ocurred to me...how old is your thread? I tried to use an older thread recently, and ended up thowing it out, as it kept breaking. I also agree with trying out various makes, my Bernina definitely works well with Guterman, and Sulky cotton and rayon, so I tend to stick to them mostly.

sorry kiddo, i always tie my quilts, but sure do love your quilt :D

I found that my machines will use almost any thread in the bobbin but not in thte top. Are you putting the presser foot down each time? If you use a metallic thread use the special needle that goes with that, does your Husk machine call for sharp needles, I know those work best in mine. Just a few thoughts.

Your grandson is going to love it! I'm not great at picking designs for quilting so I would probably stitch in the ditch on this quilt or use a large stippling design.

I'm glad that someone mentioned changing to an embroidery needle or a titanium needle. They do the best job with free motion. What size of a needle are you using?

A beauty. I would hit the ditch!

How about stitching 1/4 inch in on each piece. I bet that will be easier than stitching in the ditch (sid).

I love this quilt! It has so much personality without fancy stitching. I think in the ditch would compliment it perfectly!

I love this quilt. No suggestions on the quilting as I am terrible at that part. But the stars and stripes are great together. This is a very charming quilt!

And you have a very charming grandson too. LOL at his story!

I would do just a meander quilting.....or a loop tee doo....or stitch in the ditch....Very pretty quilt....:-)....

as far as the theread breaking ...try several things....100 % cotton ......the needle....14/90......try heavyier thread....40 to 30 wt........loosen the tension.....try on a sample and see what you get....good luck.....:-)

hi gladgrams,
I agree with PrettyKitty, breaking thread is either tension and/or moving hands to quickly. Unfortunately, I don't know much about machines that adjust tension. can you override that. Or can you call store where you bought it and ask them for some hints.
If you don't want to free motion, I think I would accent the pinwheels part of it, outling that part, and let strips receed a bit.
I love quilt, you're grandson will love it. And I love his story about you living at the airport.

peel

I loved the story about your grandson :D :D Sounds like something my 5year old grandson would say. I can't help you here as I've never ever done any machine quilting. Only hand. If I was hand quilting it would be in the ditch,then cable on the border.

My grandson (the 5 year old) only lives 2 hrs. from us so he's been here enough since I started his quilt, he gives me his 2cents worth about what he wants on it. LOL

I LOVE your quilt!! Your grandson is gonna LOVE it too!! He sounds like such a cutie!!