Machine quilting novice

At this point quilting is the least favorite part of the project for me too. (Well, I do enjoy hand-quilting, but like to do more than one project every 3 years--I'm very slow at handquilting). However, I think part of my reticence is the fact that I feel so incompetent at machine quilting. Thought if I knew more, it might change that. The quilting is such an important part of the overall look.

Michelle > The longer I've been making quilts, the less I enjoy thequiltingpart, and

needle down is an option/button that when used(old machines you push the button in when you start) "leaves the needle down in the fabric when you stop sewing" (dont push the button and the needle stops in midaction in various positions, then you manually roll the handwheel to adust it).

good for paper piecing and/or machine applique, machine quilting too, come to think of it, when you need to stop to turn a corner or adjust the position of the block/quilt/fabric. the needle stays down holding your position as you raise the presser foot to turn the whole thing a wee bit. the machine i got from MIL has the needledown thingy but i've yet to use it.

what kind of machine/model do you have? lets see if i can find a link to show how it works... ok, i looked and must be me cuz i couldnt find a good pix of it in action. hopefully what i typed made enough sense. : / j.

Hi Jeanne, I just have a very reliable Kenmore, but it's not especially fancy. I'm going to start researching machines geared more towards quilting. Won't be ready to buy for awhile, but that'll give me time to check out all the options. What type of machine do you have? What options do you find absolutely necessary on your machine?