I personally think you did a great job for your first time. I have tried FMQ many times and it does not agree with me so I happily SID and do lines; I can get very creative with them. We all have our limits and our strengths. It's ok to not be able to do something. Personally, I admire the quilt and applaud you for your efforts. Diane

Since you ruined that quilt and it is simply awful, I'll PM you my address and you can just mail that abomination to me so you won't have to suffer any longer...out of sight, out of mind, no evidence it existed. (Just don't come see me in Possum Trot or you may have flashbacks).

There I did my part to help :)

Your FMQ is a whole lot better than mine. I wish mine looked as good as yours.

don't be too hard on yourself... looks pretty good. nice quilt.

I assume you don't watch professional sports and then think you can play the game as well as the athletes do it. The same can be said for FMQ. Many, many of the videos on YouTube are done by professionals. Leah Day is a great example. Don't beat yourself up for not playing as well as they do.

Practice on some smaller projects. Placemats and hot pads are good ones. Not much investment if they look bad and who really cares if you grab the cookie sheet with an ugly hot pad?

I like the "wonkiness" as well...and don't worry too much about the stitch length, that'll come with practice. After about 5 intense practice sessions (believe me, the first one did not go well and I didn't think I could do it) I fmq'd my very first quilt on my Janome 6600, with an overall leaf pattern that I made up myself by cutting out paper, pinning them to the quilt and stitching around them. Boy have I learned a LOT since then! Just keep plugging along and you'll do just fine!!! I usually use my walking foot for straight line quilting, but that would have been a bit too much turning for me, lol.

Totally Straight, your quilt looks nice and even the free motion looks better than my first attempt. LOL The color is really nice and it looks like you did a great job on the blocks too.

It's a great quilt! (Yeah--who said anything about quilting was easy.)

I am no expert at FMQ--(yours is better than mine by a mile). Sounds like you need a larger level surface around your sewing machine to hold the quilt up--that's what I read that I need too.

I like it. It's liberated. You did an awesome job. Keep up the great work.

Randy, you have done a great job!!! Do not think of your quilt as "ruined". It is not. FMQ takes practice and will come with it. Hang in there. Your quilt looks great.