Just wondering

[Tracey V.]

I am new to the site and new to machine quilting but I have been doing embroidery for several years now. I have done hand quilting in the past. My question is, when combining embroidered blocks with quilt blocks how do you do the quilting on the entire piece so that it doesn't look "blank" in places on the back where the embroidered blocks are? Do you wait to embroider the blocks until it is sandwiched together? Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone.

Karen

[Tracey V.]

I would do your embroidery ahead of sandwiching the quilt, and then carefully quilt within the embroidered blocks enhancing the existing design.

Jean in Windsor, ON

[Betty J.]

Karen, I embroider first, then quilt. I usually do a bit of careful quilting in and close around the embroidered section and it looks great on the back and usually makes the embroidery meld into the quilt better also.

[Betty J.]

Thanks Jean and SewDreamy; I will try this. Believe it or not machine quilting is more challenging to me then hand quilting Maybe because I'm new at it. Thanks again!

Karen

[Betty J.]

It was for me too at first until Sharon Schamber explained how to set up my machine for free motion quilting. I use a super slider, and loosen my upper tension a bit When I use the BSR, I set the stitch very short (1.5 on my machine). Then it sings like everything. Oh, and I got a "halo" from her site that helps hold the quilt in tension. cheers, bettty jo

[Betty J.]

BettyJo and Karen..I do the same thing (embroider and then quilt) I really like the results. I also had the same problem with machine quilting and viewed Sharon Schambers tips. I really like doing my bindings her way, as they seam to lay flatter and not wavy. It's a little more time consuming but well worth the extra time. Enjoy your machine. I have the 440 and really enjoy using it. Nan