Question about birthing a quilt.
 

OK. The quilt is turned to the right side. How do I prepare it to be quilted. I don't care to tie it because it's for a baby. Don't want the itty bitty to be lying on knots and those sweet fingers grabbing the tie ends. I don't do FMQ so it will have to be SITD or crosshatched. Other option is using one of the tacking stitches on my machine. Thanks in advance.

smooth it out, fold the open edge seam allowance in, baste quilt with either needle & thread- long basting stitch, or with pins- quilt as desired, remove basting (thread or pins) sew (top stitch) 1/4" around the quilt (or wider If you want- as long as it closes the open edge.

After closing the opeining with hand sewing, I usually press the outside seam to get a sharp edge and then sew about 1/2" away from the edge to make a faux binding. I pin baste the quilt. If it has borders I stitch in the ditch on those also before doing whatever quilting pattern I desire. Lots of mine are for donation so do crosshatch. It depends on if the blocks lend a space to have something else done.

try very hard to smooth it out to the edges and pin there. it must be as smooth as possible. usually a birthed quilt is tied because it's difficult to machine quilt without getting puckers, mainly at the edges. hand quilting might work better. Good luck.

I only do this when making a biscuit quilt. I haven't made any for a while. In the past I made 10 4 queen sized and a California long twin size. The rest were crib size. I find this method to be a PITA. Good like trying to quilt it.