I LOVE free motion quilting!!
![]() | This is quilting from 2016 when I made quilts for all my cousins out of my grandma’s fabrics. It was free motion quilted with no rulers. |
For the most part, I make all of my quilts from start to finish on a domestic sewing machine. I say, “for the most part” because there was a time when a group of us made quilts to exchange and one lovely lady long-armed each of the quilts for us. So, I can’t really say that I’ve done every quilt from start to finish. And there are the times where I have made a block or 2 for a group quilt … and obviously that’s not done totally by me. Also, when I first started quilting, we had quilting bees to hand quilt the quilts that we made.
So, why do I do all my own quilting? First, because I want to! When I first started quilting I made only 1 or 2 quilts a year. Each of them was hand quilted.
THEN, life changed … in 2005, I started to quilt, or piece more tops. I had bought a decent machine (Janome 6500) and wanted to learn to quilt on a domestic machine.
I took a Free Motion Quilting class. In the class, we learned how to ‘meander’ and the golden rule that you must NEVER cross over a meander line. Of course, I broke that rule on my practice square. The instructor told me to take out the stitching on my practice piece so that I would remember to NEVER cross over the line. As a professional adult educator, I was amazed at this! I started to take it out and when she wasn’t looking, that piece got stashed away. The next blow was when she told me that I would NEVER be able to free motion quilt unless I bought a Bernina (that she & her husband sold) with a stitch regulator. Needless to say, I cried all the way home.
A few weeks later, I was at a quilt show and one of the venders had a quilt on display. I was examining the quilting. She had meandered the entire quilt AND in a few places, she had CROSSED over!!! OH MY!!! Then I found out she had a machine with a stitch regulator and hated it because it slowed her down.
SEW … I went home from that quilt show with a smile on my face!!! I remember thinking, “to H*** with what that mean instructor told me” and I then thought “I don’t give a d*** what she said.” [yes, sometimes swearing helps!] I pulled out one of the quilts I had pieced and meandered the whole thing!! I also made sure that I crossed over. (Call me a rebel!) I quilt my quilts for ME … they aren’t going to be entering any competition.
Since then, I’ve taken many FMQ classes from different instructors. All of them were very encouraging! And I’ve learned something new from each one of them.
I’ve been quilting my own quilts ever since! Currently, I quilt on my domestic Janome M7 machine.
One thing that stuck in my mind from the early days of quilting was something that Harriet Hargraves said in one of her books that to always quilt the same thing is like buying a mattress cover with the same over-all design. It’s always the same. So, I try to add variety to my quilts. Besides, I’d be totally bored if I always did the exact same thing!

When I was first learning to free motion quilt, I had a quilt that was really UGLY. I mean UGLY!!! The fabric was lovely, but how it was put together resulted in a truly UGLY quilt. However, it was the perfect quilt to practice on!!! If a motif or something didn’t work out – it didn’t matter!! I just moved on to another section and tried again! And yes, I had to practice!!
I no longer practice and just jump in to quilt whatever the quilt tells me to. Most of my quilts are custom quilted, but there is the odd one where I do an all-over design or diagonal lines.
Here’s a few close-ups of quilting, totally quilted on my domestic machine! There is some ruler quilting (straight lines, hearts and orange peels) but most of it is free motion.










SEW … I encourage you to practice your quilting! Yes, practice! You’ll be amazed at what you can do in a very short time!
Don’t Forget!

I am now a Silly Moon affiliate! So what does that mean? When you use my affiliate code Quiltinggail2024 at Silly Moon, you will receive 10% off your order and I will receive a small commission.


















































































































