Originally Posted by Jim's Gem

When I am quilting on the diagonal, which most of my quilts have been done that way, I mark my lines with tape from the corner of the blocks across. If you are doing lines real close and are using a guide, I would mark from the upper right hand corner down towards the lower left. Roll quilt up on diagonal from either side, leaving marked line in center between rolls, quilt down line and then continue in same direction for the next line, unrolling on the right (near machine) down to bottom etc. Then reroll tightly to center starting line and from other direction, stitch down lines in one direction unrolling from machine side. If you are not using a fancy stitch, deffinately use your walking foot.

I hope this helps. Many times I am using diagonal stitching on quilts with 9 in blocks and just come down from corner to corner on the blocks with a fancy stitch. I use warm and natural batting and so stitching can be f airly far apart. With 9 in blocks the stitching ends up being about 4.5 in apart. Sometimes I will then quilt the other diagonal to put more quilting into it. When doing the 9 in blocks, I use masking tape to "mark" my diagonal lines, so that I can get the lines straight from corner to corner. I just pull up the tape right in front of my stitching, cause with a fancy stitch it takes more space and I don't want to sew over the tape.