Stitch in the Ditch and Straight Line Quilting
 

What do you think of it (as compared to FMQ)?

To do it?

The effect of it in a finished quilt?

For me it works because my fmq needs a LOT of improvement. And I really like the look of crosshatch

No secret on my thoughts of it! LOL.

I like both! I love the look of ruler work on a quilt and on my own quilts, if I am not doing an all over, I definitely ditch stitch the pieced elements. From there I decide if I want to echo them with straight lines and then do a FM fill to emphasize it. Ruler work is labor intensive and very slow going but IMO the results are well worth it. The FMQ fills to me is the "fun" part.

I love some of the FMQ that I see on here and Craftsy, etc. However, I am not experienced or confident enough in my FMQ skills to do it on most of my quilts. I was fortunate enough to take some classes from Ann
Petersen at a local quilt shop, and have downloaded one of her classes on Quilting on your domestic machine, and will try to get better over time.
The other side of the coin is that many of the modern quilts that I see seem to have more straight line than FMQ as part of the overall design of the quilt. And I do like those too.
So in my case, I think whichever fits either the design of the quilt or the experience of the quilter, is the best choice. In the end, if you are happy with the finished product, then the method you use is the best.

Happy Quilting,
Susan

I think it can highly depend on what type of machine you are using. Straight line/SITD is much easier than FMQ on my domestic, but harder on my HQ sitdown midarm that doesn't have feed dogs at all. But FMQ is so much easier on the HQ.

I do like the looks of straight line quilting and have been trying to incorporate it more.

I think each quilt demands its' own style of quilting....some will get straightline/crosshatching and some will get a curly/swirly design....and I can't tell you ahead of time what the quilt wants, I have to hang the finished top on the wall to look at it a while to decide what will be best. My fmq skills are still developing, but I can usually accomplish something enough to satisfy me....LOL.

For me depends on the quilt and what is easiest for the quilter. Saw a video yesterday with Eleanor Burns and she was quilting on her domestic. It was actually a video for binding but she was attaching it to quilt she had use her DSM for. Reminds me I need more quilt clips.

Ok, so I dislike stitching in the ditch. I can't sew straight. It looks like a drunken soldier sewing. I do significantly better at free motion quilting. It's easier to make loops and etc. I'm just saying.

I love the look of straight line quilting, and that's a definite advantage of machine quilting on a DSM over a sit-down mid-arm.

I think SITD is useful for certain piecing situations where you want to emphasize the piecing, because it makes it stand out, but otherwise, I don't see any advantage to SITD over more visible forms of quilting.