Yeah Robbi! That was one of my biggest hurdles to get over - I put off even trying to FMQ for many years and then once I did it, I wondered why I had made it so big in my head. I'm not very good at it, but I do enjoy it which is so much better than dreading it! Karlene

Thanks for your help everyone, please be patient with me and my ignorance here -- I do have the gloves and I was using those. I have a Pfaff 1540 -- is the IDT supposed to be on or off when you are doing free motion? -Tension on the pressure foot - I don't understand that- I have two speed switches - is there something else there I should be adjusting? -Teresa, so you are grabbing the thread that is actually under your quilt sandwich - this is really an ignorant question - how would you do this if you're not quilting right at the edge? How can you grab it without pulling up what you are working on? Also, if you make several stitches in the same place, won't your project get sucked into the plate? I've done this in the past and I see my practice sandwiches and they look pretty good -- but the ones I've been working on are a complete disaster- I know something must be set wrong or I'm completely forgetting a step I just can't figure it out. I'm always leery about messing with the thread tension but could that be the problem?

Rosa--Yeah, I quilted that one the hard way! Most of the time, I do linked curves in the diamonds so I don't have to mess with the thread tails, but I wanted a more traditional look and so I had to do all that putzy knotting and burying! It was a good job to do while watching TV in the evening. The thread in the gold stars is rayon, so that made it even harder because it's so fine and slippery. Thank goodness the quilt is small--only lap sized. Still one of my favorite designs and one of these days I want to make it queen-sized for my bed. It's on a "to-do" list as long as my arm! Annie

Wow, there's a bunch of them! But I was disappointed that they weren't videos. I like watching Leah Day's videos but they are very dense and usually I want something looser and bigger and less time-consuming. But these people are so generous to share their creative skills for free I hate to even ask them for something simpler, they could be like some of the quilting celebrities and charge an arm and a body for every little thing they do.