It was quite a learning experience working on this quilt. I found that it is indeed very true, as I have read many times, that working free-motion quilting on an actual quilt, albeit couch-sized, is much different from just practicing on a much smaller project. (Note: I have quilted larger quilts on the sewing machine, but always used all-over meandering, or straight lines.)
Things I learned:
I would definitely profit from a "supreme slider" type of product to apply to my machine bed.
Gloves are a MUST HAVE !
Needle-down position on machine--yeh, that would be WONDERFUL.
One-inch strips would be ideal for coming up with LOTS of design ideas.....2 inches is a little more difficult.
BIGGEST aggravation............a machine that COASTS to a stop. I just could not CONTINUALLY slow down and coast to the place where I MEANT to stop, even for shifting my hand placement. So, I wound up with little 'thread balls' in a million places.
ALSO......VERY IMPORTANT..........I think I see why I don't find many photos of "modern" machine-quilted quilts with borders. It's difficult to balance the machine-quilting on the interior of the quilt with the design you do in the borders. My quilt is more heavily quilted inside; then, I just did a large-scale meandering in the borders; therefore, the borders wave a bit despite the fact that I measured the centers of the quilt when adding the bindings.
Here are a few shots of the different designs that fill the rectangles and triangles.
In the photo above, you can barely make out the couple's first initials in the triangle with the heart (I know, it's kindof a sorry heart).......H for Holly, and J for Jeremiah.
The backing fabric turned out to be a great choice for machine-quilting, as it has pale paisleys and designs all over it that look alot like my quilting.
All in all, I'm pleased with the quilt, and very pleased with the time frame for making it. As 'using quilts' go, it's a keeper, I think. Let's hope the wedding couple thinks so.
