I thought today just for fun I would play with machine quilting – which we all know is not my specialty 
so what did I do – I dropped the feed dogs and thought I would see what I could do. I set my speed setting on my Janome Platinum 720 to a fairly slow speed and gave it a whirl – expert I am not!!
This is the stencil flower that I will be using on the Farmers Wife blank blocks although those blocks are little smaller than this and I think it will just be the flower not the leaves. I have all different sizes of stitches on this! I could not control it well.
A little more of a close up – you can see my wild uneven stitches here. All I know about machine quilting is a little bit that I have picked up from books really – last year I went over to CJ’s house and doodled with her long arm for fun – but we all know that is different than using your domestic machine. I was following laser dots that time.
LOL, the back is a real mess!
I thought I would give it one more try before I gave up for the afternoon. I actually did better on stitch length control.
A close up
The back side – hmm – tension wasn’t right! Oh well, just practice – haven’t a clue if I would try to do anything like this on one of my quilts but maybe more straight line stitching instead – easier and neater in the long run for me!! How do you guys do this!! LOL, I might have to stick with what I do best.
Now back to my specialty – hand quilting on Star Crazy this evening. I didn’t rinse out the blue lines when I took this photo. I will be behind my tentative schedule for getting this quilt done with all the running I have been doing to my moms – but I will still try to get it done by April – we will see!!
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Karen, my machine quilting is not that great and that is why I love hand quilting so much. I can control things better
I do find that when FMQ, it’s easier for me to not follow lines and just go with whatever flows! LOL
I just know I’d never be able to do this on my machine! I don’t have the special feet for one thing. So ~ I’ll stick with hand quilting and do the best I can with it. Sure, the machine quilting would go quicker, but at my age, I can’t rush things.
Although your hand quilting is beautiful to watch, there are times that quick is good. I just read this post by a great teacher and it had some wonderful ideas for practice, especially inking the design and sewing with no thread. thequiltrat.blogspot.com/2012/01/workshop-refresher.html
It seems like it should be so easy…just isn’t!
Debbie in Alaska recently posted..Getting Organized to Make Stockings
Practise makes perfect! But I agree that it is completely different to do FMQ on a domestic machine than on a Longarm. You did not do to bad though…
Good progress on the Star Crazy’s quilting.
Elzaan recently posted..Aan die gang
I do a lot of domestic head Machine Quilting. But last year I bought a mid arm that is up in my dining room. I did a beautiful quilt on it and the tension got messed up. Now I am so frustrated with it!
by the way, what is that tool laying on your handquilting quilt?
glen
glen in louisiana recently posted..Must be a Basset Thing
I found this website really useful http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransson/2009/03/quilt-along-14-freemotion-quilting.html and this might be helpful too http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2008/03/free-motion-quilting.html
my machine quilting is more a mess than yours…
Happy Chinese new year!!!
sherry recently posted..龍年行大運噢
You did really well! And star crazy looks great!
Archie the wonder dog recently posted..My 2012 resolution
This is why I don’t attempt to machine quilt my quilts! Well, sometimes I will do geometric patterns or stitch in the ditch. I admire your trials and errors and practice!
Nedra recently posted..Farmer’s Wife Setting Triangles
Just like your beautiful hand quilting, machine quilting just takes practice. My hand quilting would look like your machine quilting! State with some simple designs, practice a bit and you will get the hang of it quickly!
Vicki W recently posted..Customer projects
I do’t machine quilt either although I want to give it a try! I do make my quilt tops by machine (I don’t hand sew my tops like you! I wish I did – maybe when I retire :-} I’ll give it a try on the Dear Jane I wnat to do! I hand quilt or if it is something very special I have a local long arm quilter do the quilting for me!
I find that running the machine a little faster makes more even stitches. Just don’t move your hands any faster, just the machine.
Wanda recently posted..Phone connection but no internet
Karen, It is so great that you share this with us. I have been trying to work up the courage to do some machine quilting (other than in the ditch). It is so great to see that others do some machine quilting that is slightly less than perfect, but it looks great to me . Thanks Karen, Deb.
Deb recently posted..TAST
Actually I think that’s pretty darn impressive if that’s the first time you’ve tried it Karen! I never could get the hang of wrestling a quilt around the needle… it’s MUCH easier to drag the machine around the fabric!
CJ in AR recently posted..Rain, rain rain
Keep practicing. It is difficult but do-able. I will say mine is not near perfect and I always hope people are not enlarging my photos to look closely.
I think that on the first whole quilt I machine quilted I used invisible thread. lol It seems that a lot of people whose quilting looks perfect have Bernina’s with stitch regulators. Maybe one day. Actually, I think one day I will get a mid arm. I hope. I wish. Maybe.
Vivian recently posted..Guilty Quilting????
If you haven’t already, you should check out free-motion quilter Leah Day at: http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/
It really does get easier with practice.