Here's a link to Lois's blog and her lovely Christmas projects:

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Heather, I just posted a blog on the TQS Member Blogs. There are pictures of some wallhangings where I used straight line FMQ. Even on those small pieces I didn't want to be bothered with all the turns using my dual feed/walking foot. I bit the bullet used FMQ and loved how it turned out. I tried putting a link to it here but couldn't figure out how. It's called Christmas Wrap Up. Good luck with the quilt. It will be wonderful.

Heather Norma is right - it's better to get on a do something rather than agonize over the quilting until you grind yourself to a halt. Finished quilts are so much better than UFOs. I consider every quilt I make a learning experience and that goes for the quilting too.

Re the serpentine stitch - you might be able to elongate the zigzag stitch to make it a serpentine stitch. I can do that on one of my machines. It's a case of playing around with stitches to see what they can do. I have a stitch bible for each of my machines so that I know what each stitch looks like on the fabric and also when it is elongated or widened - but that's another days work for you. Good luck with whatever you decide to do and HAVE FUN!

Zarah wrote:
thank you!!

this latest idea makes my heart sing and really excites me, so I think that's what I'll do. And you're right, best to just get in there and do it and who cares if I'm supposed to be able to or not. My friend Joyce always laughs because I started out with a diary quilt, tons of different blocks, and every new block I'd email her a photo and she'd tell me "you did that???? by hand???" (because back then I had no machine) and she'd just be amazed at how hard it was/what a complicated block. I just kept saying, "but there were no triangles!! It was easy!!" LOL!

I'm definitely not a perfectionist and not going for perfection, just something that will look nice; I think since it's for my son, and he's high school aged already, I do want it to be something he'll be proud to have on his bed for a while. And because I didn't quilt that very first quilt the way I wanted to, I don't want to have a regret like that again. That quilt didn't turn out bad, at all, but I know it would be even better had I waited to quilt it until I could do what I wanted.

But I like the idea of these diagonal lines, a lot. I think I'll do that and we'll see what happens! : )

I would say: follow your heart because that is the only way you will be really satisfied with the result. Your quilt is very busy so I don't see a problem in practicing FMQ on it, knowing that this is the first in a series where the next one will be better. That's how you build your skills. The current quilt is always a step stone for the next and I so wish that people would accept this fact and be happy in practicing.
You have some wonderful ideas. Go for them even if some would think you're crazy.
When you look at very experienced quilters and hear their stories, a lot of them started out crazy because they didn't know that they were doing things they were not supposed to manage.

New idea!!

Okay, just watched Jackie Gering's show, and I was thinking, I want the comics to be the focus. So, if I use diagonal lines (following the diagonal of the red slanted frames in the center), on the left following them in one direction (so, the ones that point up) and on the right following the ones in the other direction (the ones that point down) (ha! I guess could be either, but I hope you guys know what I mean) and then in the center frame out the comics with the diagonal frame echoed around the comics.

Of course filling in so they are maybe 1" apart or 2" apart or something. Then the lines of quilting will further point to the comics, yet the gray thread will make it seem more texturey than anything, I think.

I don't think I have serpentine stitch on my machine, but I'll play around and see what I do have, but maybe even just normal straight will be okay.

How does that sound??

And, I guess I could play with my EQ7 and figure out how to draw quilting motifs over it to try it out, huh? I really need to mess with that program and see what I can learn........

Limbania55 wrote:
thank you!!!!

loise98 wrote:
Lois, what you say is so true.

I have used painter's tape to guide straight lines; that works beautifully as a visual guide! Of course, that was with my walking foot, not my free motion foot....

I have done some small areas of FMQ; I did little hearts (sort of) in the diamonds of the baby quilt I made; they are wobbly and very imperfect, but the recipient won't notice and I am okay with that. Perfectly imperfect.....like the sound of that! You are quite an encouragement to me; thank you. Well, that goes for all of you!!

Beautiful quilt Heather! Your ideas for quilting it sound really cool.

Yes you can purchase individual shows but, before you do that, check the e-mail I sent you. Hope it helps.

Heather, Great to see your quilt. I think it's so fun. Love your ideas. This quote really makes me smile.

"I really cannot wait for my skill level to catch up with my imagination."

Good luck with that. I've been working toward that for years and my imagination tends to continue to outdistance the skills. Always drawn to something I cannot quite yet manage. I got tired of just practicing and went to work on some FMQ projects that really mattered to me even before I was confident in my skills. I believed that helped me improve at a greater rate. Jacquie Gering uses masking tape to guide straight stitching. Of course, just like the felt it would be tough getting out if you stitched on it. I would go for doing the straight stitching using FMQ and be happy with "perfectly imperfect" lines. You'll do fine. Caring so much about the project will boost your skill. Good luck!

Heather, I wouldn't try to use the felt thing as a guide for stitching 'cause if it got under your presser foot it could be a bear to unsew! :shock:
But...you certainly could use it as a guide for drawing your clamshells before you stitch!
Plain old school chalk works well for marking designs and is easy to get off. Just use a hand-held pencil sharpener to make a nice point.
Use a light hand, 'cause the chalk will break with too much pressure.

And yes! PRACTICE, Practice, practice will make your free motion quilting better!

I have never seen monofillament thread available here, but I think the gray will blend nicely enough through the rest. I don't mind if it shows up some, I just don't want to do, say, red all over and compete with the comics for attention.

Good tip to keep the density the same all over. I don't think I'll try to FMQ over his designs; I've tried following drawn lines and am just not good at it. I would need a LOT more practice. Well, maybe I could do some; his drawings are of a volcano/mountain, so I could at least do the straight lines, and maybe the grids in the places where I put more than one comic on one sheet.

I hand-quilted something with that clamshell design once; it really makes a beautiful texture. When I hand did it (on a small project) I used a thick, stiff felt thing such as you put on the bottoms of chair legs as my guide and quilted around that; is it possible to maybe tape a guide type thing to my quilt and use it to guide my FMQ foot???

My biggest problem with the FMQ is speed control; my machine doesn't have speed control, so it's all in how I work the foot pedal. I guess practice is the only answer there, for keeping my machine speed and the speed I move the fabric through balanced out so that I get even stitches......I wonder, does it show up less with a smaller stitch length, or longer??? gosh, I have so much to learn.....

so glad I have you guys! (err, gals! ladies! whatever, you know what I mean!!)

First of all, try to contact the shop where you bought the batting and see if they have any info about it. Fiber content? Distance apart the quilting needs to be??

As for thread color, I am a proponent of monofiliment thread any where I don't want the thread to be obvious.

If I were to quilt this project on my domestic sewing machine, I would layer the sandwich and pin baste it about every 4"-5", then use a walking foot to stabilize the vertical and horizontal seams by stitching "in the ditch" between all of the blocks. If you place your safety pins away from those seam lines, it will make it quicker to stitch!

After it is stabilized, I would start the free-motion work and do the geometric blocks first. That will determine the density that you will need to maintain in the comic strip blocks. When you get to those blocks, you can either free-motion quilt along the designs that your son drew which would make the design have some definite dimension, or you can just do some kind of a fill and stitch right over the drawings. Free motion cross-hatching or clam shells would work just fine. But I would definitely use a monofiliment thread on those blocks no matter how I did the quilting.



Just remember to keep the DENSITY of your quilting the same all over your quilt.

Hope that helps, Heather, and I look forward to watching your progress!

thanks! I'll look it up!