Straight line quilting okay for this??

[Lois B.]

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.

thank you!!!!

[Lois B.]

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........

[Norma H.]

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.

[Norma H.]

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.

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! : )

[Rita C.]

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!

[Lois B.]

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.

[Rita C.]

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

community/

[Rita C.]

Heather, re quilting density being the same across the whole quilt, for the drawings that your son did instead of trying to stitch along the drawn lines fmq you could always do those sections by hand, with running stitch or if you want it too look a bit more like the machine work either backstitch or double running stitch (this would have to be done 'stabbing' rather than 'scooping' to imitate the machine work).

Also another option for templates to stich around - sandpaper works quite nicely, place it grit side down and it hardly moves. Another thing , if you are going to infill by going forwards and backwards in an area (not fmq), instead of pivoting the fabric, how about using the reverse button.... steering is a little bit tricky, but it works fine.

I've been working on my Too Loud Man/Dog Rose 1 quilt this week and it has all been done with a walking foot.http://forum/everything-else/6118-ha...thday-rosemary (click on picture for close-up) I even measured my harp space and came up with 6 1/2", the wadding is an old blanket, and it has been one heck of a wrestling match. Still love it & the design, but the design is definitely one that would have been better handquilted :roll:

[Rita C.]

Definitely not going to let the planning bog me down; I have some time to figure it out before I can start --- we are dog-sitting a friend's dog this weekend, Saturday to Tuesday, and I will definitely NOT be quilting while Jack is here! He's not so well behaved like my dogs are But Weds morning, out the batting and backing will come and that thing will get sandwiched and basted and off I'll go.

Lois, love the idea you showed of using ironed-on freezer paper templates; genius! I do find it so much easier to follow something when the edge of the foot goes along it, instead of tracing a drawn line as I did when I made my little hearts. Or sandpaper, like Rosemary said; brilliant! I think with tape lines I could do straight lines either way, FMQ or with the walking foot.

I printed out the EQ7 drawing and am doodling on it in pencil to see which idea looks better there, then will decide and go for it. I'll post pictures when I'm done

(afraid this does mean I'll nowhere near get my architectural quilt done; maybe next year!)

[Robin G.]

Heather, I'm quilting a (very late) graduation quilt for my niece. It's 56 x 86 inches, regular cotton fabric on top, with wool batting and flannel backing. I have 8-inch blocks with 2-inch sashing. The blocks are mostly just Kaffe Fassett fabric—no piecing within the block, except for 8 blocks where I spell out her name. (I know, I know, y'all want to see photos, but next week, I promise!). I had wanted to do some sort of flower design within the blocks and cable pattern in the sashing, but my skills weren't up to it, plus I really found myself wrestling to get the quilt through my domestic machine. I also could never find quite the right design. I watched one of the Craftsy classes (Ann Peterson's on quilting big quilts in small machines) and got some good tips that way. I even tried a sandwich to practice FMQ—for a first attempt, that actually turned out not too bad, but not good enough to go on her quilt. I'm already so late on getting the quilt to her that I didn't want to take the time to practice FMQ long enough to get good enough at it that I'd be happy with it on her quilt. So finally, I decided on straight lines with my walking foot, and it's turning out nicely. Now that I'm seeing it almost done, I think the straight lines actually are better on the floral fabric than quilted flowers would have been. For the outside borders (a plain Stonehenge fabric), I'm going to use a combination of straight lines and the serpentine stitch—Thank you Jackie Gering for that tip!!!! Anyhow, my advice is that you should do something that will stretch you a bit, but not so far that you will wish you did something else on this quilt. After all, you'll be seeing it often on your son's bed, so you don't want to see it with regret. And remember, done is better than perfect!

[Margo C.]

If you will slide your EQ printed quilt design into a plastic sleeve protector, you can experiment with your major lines with a dry erase marker and not have to erase pencil lines on the printed paper. It's not so good for fine detail work, but it's great for getting the big picture worked out!

[Margo C.]

Oh Yeah - forgot to mention a tip I read in a Sewing for Kids book (bought as a birthday present for friend of DD) suggests that if you have trouble getting the foot pedal to go slow enough try putting/wedging a bit of sponge near the hinge for a bit more resistance, haven't tried it yet but I will be soon (I hope)

[Susan B.]

I'm going to use a combination of straight lines and the serpentine stitch—Thank you Jackie Gering for that tip!!!!

I would stress over fmq on a quilt with so much effort, if I wasn't fairly confident. I was blown away by how good Jackie Gering's quilts look. The quilting did not distract from the designs at all.

[ANNE E.]

Heather,If you go to Jacquie Gering's web page

http://www.tallgrassprairiestudio.com

and look at some of her blogs you can see quite a lot of her close lines quilting, it's absolutely beautiful.
Love your quilt
Anne

[Margo C.]

Heather,If you go to Jacquie Gering's web page

http://www.tallgrassprairiestudio.com

and look at some of her blogs you can see quite a lot of her close lines quilting, it's absolutely beautiful.
Love your quilt
Anne

Good photos on Jacquie's blog: http://tallgrassprairiestudio.blogspot.com/