Showing you my imperfect stitches, keeping it real even though that was kinda scary to film! Thank you so so much for all of your kind comments! 💕 Let me know, what is your biggest quilting struggle? xo Irene

The dumb thing I did when I first started to try free motion quilting was to start on the left side of the quilt and work to the right, like reading a book. What I should have done was to start in the middle of the quilt and work one way or the other toward the edges. It bunched and made a mess. :(

I was told to practice free motion by first quilting-from-the-back. It's an old technique of getting a busy backing fabric, like large flowers or fall leaves. You practice by following the design in the fabric, like maybe picking every repeat of a particular set of flowers and following the outline of each petal. The positives to this method is that you get familiar with moving the fabric,, you learn how following a specific line (great when you later mark a design on the front and need to follow it), and since it's the back, people won't notice any mistakes you make. And on the front, all they see the pretty flowers or leaves and think you are a very skilled quilter! LOL

WHATS YOUR MACHINE DEAR?

I had a jelly roll and did the jelly roll race quilt and then i quilted each row with different stitches. Now when i want to free motion quilting i pull out the jelly roll quilt to see how the different stitches look and then i can practice the stitch i like on a scrap sandwich before i tackle the newest quilt. One lady in town does one test block of quilting it allows her to see how well the block works and if it looks like the pattern. She puts these sample blocks in a bag and when i was learning to free motion quilting i would take a block and make a sandwich and quilt it. She would then go over the quilting i did and offer tips. For her 75th birthday she did 75 quilts and she gifted her guests with a quilt.

Do you have a video on how to make a sandwich. I need a video that begins and ends all the steps. I’m trying to make my first quilt and I don’t know how to start. Got any ideas?

Thank you! One of the best “beginner” tutorials on FMQ 👍🏼. I had a very quick lesson once and gave up because I found it too hard to do on my own. The instruction I received was not long enough and was told to just go for it! This is bad advice! I loved how you showed us the errors that can occur...long and short stitches and the designs. I am now going to attempt this on my own...no choice COVID! 🥴 I will refer again to your video while I am in the process of trying it!

what machine are you using?

Hi I’m new to all this and am trying to make a double ended oven mitt - made the quilt sandwich but when I go to sew .... there are NO STITCHES 😱 what am I doing wrong ! 🥲🥲HELP

What model is your machine?

Thank you for showing us all your mistakes, and what effect speed has on the stitches. This was much more informative than seeing someone doing the stitching perfectly. I look forward to seeing more of your videos! Good work!

This was exactly the advice I needed. I wanted to try free-motion quilting and was too scared to start for fear I would ruin it. Now I can doodle, play with a practice piece and eventually, enjoy having a go. I love that you showed all your quilting - even the bits that you didn’t think went so well. So helpful!

Just starting to try free motion quilting and I really needed to see this video. Thank you for letting us see you trials and errors. I wouldn't have learned anything from watching an expert wizz through a quilt perfectly. I feel much more at ease with giving it my best shot. Thanks!!!

I am so grateful to have found this video tutorial! I am a beginner quilter and this helps me start, unlike the 4000 other so called beginner tutorials on YT! Thank you so much! Gotta go, it's time to practice!

Aren’t you just the cutest thing with your FMQ’ing and your accent???? I adore your enthusiasm and teaching methods! I’ve FMQ’d a couple quilts to date but looking for tips, hints and hacks to get better is always something I do. I really like that you show your practices, it makes me feel much better about my own progress!

I've done free motion quilting previously (stepling), however, that was awhile ago now. So I found your tutorial very refreshing & helpful.. I also thoroughly enjoyed your friendly manner, & gentle encouragement. Thank you

Thank you, Irene, I really enjoyed and appreciated watching and learning how to Motion Quilting. You are so friendly and I loved seeing your smiling face.

Delightful attitude and great advice. You get a big "thumbs up" from me! I sometimes draw a design on freezer paper, lightly iron it to the quilt, then follow the pattern on the paper. The paper tears away - just make your stitches small enough to be strong when you remove the paper.

Sharing your "oops moments" is by far the best part of your teaching! You've provided instruction AND inspiration! I'm just a newbie. Thank you.

I'm working on my 2nd quilt ever. It's a queen size and I've decided to machine quilt it. NO PRESSURE! You gave me a lot of confidence. Thank you!