I am looking for an easy way to pull the threads through the back of my aquares when I am done machine quilting. Does any of you have suggestions for me?. Thank you.

Sue

this is my method. i'm sure other good suggestions will follow. we are a very imaginative bunch around here. :P

first, make sure you don't stitch in place to form a final knot on the front. just stop stitching.

then, tug gently on the back thread, it will pull the last loop of the top thread through. then you can finish pulling it all the way through to the back using the tip of your seam ripper or a straight pin.

i tie tight little knots, then thread both through a needle to bury them in the batting. takes a bit more time but looks so much nicer than anything else i've tried.

That's how I do it too Patrice, when I finish an area. It's a good way to hide those stops and starts! Although, I bring my bobbin thread up to the top when I begin and I do take a stitch or two in place at that time. When I'm done, I thread both those threads together and take them right back down in the same hole they came up in and bury the knot just as you described. Is that how you begin your stitching?

although i try to always remember to bring the bottom thread up at the begining, i've only recently tried the sitch-in-place-to-begin thing. i don't like it, to be honest. i keep hoping it's a matter of practice to avoid those hideous knots i get. i'll try a few more times, then go back to burying both beginning and end by hand when traditional backstitching won't look good enough.

I only take two stitches after I bring up my bobbin thread, and by the time I take both threads to the back, and take them back through the same hole they just came through, that tiny knot completely disappears into the layers just as if I'd been handquilting. Just keep practicing and you'll get it perfect before you know it! :)

There are times when I choose not to do it that way though, and just back stitch a bit like you said you do. Like when I have a kabillion starts and stops in one block. That's just too many thread ends to have to bury!! At those times I just backstitch and go, then slice both the top and bobbin threads close to the quilt top. :D