aashley333

I finished the top for my square in a square temperature quilt. Brightly colored squares (6") and light tan background. I'm new at FMQ, so I don't have much experience. I'm sure there are guidelines concerning when to be dense and how it affects your view of the quilt. I've ordered 3 stencils that are 6". Really don't have a clue where or how to quilt this. Normally, I would SITD, but now I want a little bit fancy. I would like to see some similar quilts that are quilted, but I can't seem to choose the correct terms to search. I tried "tear drop"--is that correct for this type of assembly?--but I have been unable to see the actual quilting lines. This is the drawing that I followed for assembling. I'm thinking most of quilting in background area, using stencil, but not sure what to do with actual colored square. Thoughts or links?
And, yes, I'm completing 2 quilts at once. Started seahorse while waiting on more fabric for background to arrive.

thimblebug6000

Maybe the Chandelier Quilt is similar, I did a quick search on google and was able to find a couple photos. What type of stencils did you get?

Also Donna Jordan’s free Beads quilt, her video shows her all over quilting.

LI_diva

I’ve made a chandelier quilt which is similar. I did dot-to-dot in the coloured squares, and feathers in the background. I learned it from Angela Walters videos on YouTube.

1CharmShort

Hi Aashley
here is a link to Donna Jordan's beads quilt pattern... except this particular pattern doesn't show you how to quilt it, it does shows you what a chandelier quilt looks like and it's a free pattern too.
https://jordanfabrics.com/pages/beads-1

oh this youtube video shows Donna quilting the beads quilt after putting it all together
https://jordanfabrics.com/pages/beads-1
and
here is a link to Angela Walters over on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...otion+quilting
Angela has so many good ideas and video tutorials on how to quilt your quilt.

both of these are great ideas. Angela Walters has videos for both longarm and domestic sit down sewing machines. And, she helps take the fear out of trying fmq for the first time

youtube is a good place to learn how to use your stencils also.
good luck
Love your seahorse!!

aashley333

Thanks so much for the videos. Love Angela Walters! And I had to Google dot to dot. I know that the temperature quilt looks plain and simple, which is not my usual style, but it is easy to read and different from most I've seen. Here is a screenshot of the stencils that are ordered.
I need lessons on how to quilt beyond SITD. How dense to quilt and where, how to emphasize areas, etc. Self taught only goes so far!

1CharmShort

I learned by watching videos, reading everything I could get my hands on, talking to everyone at quilt shows, etc.

What I learned is that there are literally hundreds of places free and paid classes, books, retreats etc available now to learn from.

First of all, your batting will give you a recommended quilting distance necessary to hold your quilt together without the batting clumping up or migrating around.

Once you get beyond that, it really is up to you to decide how dense (or not dense) you prefer. You get to choose whatever design or combination of designs you want to try.

And as you get more and more comfortable with your machine and your growing skill level, your tastes may change. You may find that you love using stencils, but hate ruler work. Or you love playing around with random shapes and motifs. You may want to challenge yourself with feathers or precisely measured and marked geometric lines or circles.
It really is all about what you prefer.
It is true that the more quilting you do, the closer together and small your designs, the more dense you quilt a piece, the stiffer your quilt will be. So if you want fluffier, less stiff piece, then go with a large design that spreads out and isn't too close together. If you want to highlight a specific area, close, small quilting around it will allow it to 'stick up' above the surrounding area that is sort of mashed down by your quilting.

I would suggest you practice on some large scraps, play and test out some motifs you want to try.
You can also draw a design you're considering on a sheet protector, or anything you can see through and lay it over the area on your quilt you want to work on. A way to "see" what it will look like and how it may fit first before committing.

It would also help if you could find a quilting buddy to practice with & bounce ideas off of.

You can find designs, motifs, and ideas everywhere.

Some more good videos to find and watch:
Jenny Doan
Pat Sloan
Lori Kennedy
Leah Day
There are so many more!

https://www.craftsy.com/post/free-mo...for-beginners/
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=free+motio...=v314-1&ia=web

wish I could be more help!
love your stencils.

1CharmShort

OMG I forgot Cindy Needham! You must watch her videos! She is incredible with stencils!


https://www.cindyneedham.com/pages/quilting-videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqOBfSz3mGE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhmzUZCZXGA

https://www.youtube.com/@linenquilter/videos

https://www.facebook.com/cindy.needham.142/videos/10216917466350805/

bummer....many of her videos are no longer available on youtube....

1CharmShort

And here is Karen Mc Tavish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6Y0NYtzzkI

cashs_mom

Since this is your first quilt to free motion, I'd suggest just doing loops so you can get the feel of things. It's easy to do and quilt effective. I use it often for quick quilts that I just need done. You can also meander which is a big more challenging.

I would also suggest doing daily practice for a couple weeks using different designs to get the feel for them. I took an online course by RaNae Merrill that had us do that. It made all the difference

GregB

When I first started doing free motion, I found the book " First steps to free motion quilting" by Christina Cameli to be a great help. The sub title is 24 projects for Fearless switching . I hope this will encourage you.If you need motifs there are two books called something like 501 motifs for quilting.