your quilting should go in both directions- when the recommendations say to quilt every 2"=4" it means every 2"-4" in both directions should have stitching- if you simply (channel stitch) your batting can pull apart & ball up in the channels-so you will have areas with no batting & then gobs of balled up batting...you should follow the recommended quilting distance for your chosen batting & quilt in all directions to that specification...more is ok-less can be a problem.