Originally Posted by
gram2five
Thanks Prism and Maniac! These are more the ideas that I have been thinking about. In doing these quilting lines, does the rule of starting in the middle and working out hold true, or can I start at an edge and go across? I'm very new to machine quilting, so need all the help I can get.
Both!
You do not start in the middle of the quilt. You start at the edge, but in the middle of the edge. So, you are sewing edge-to-edge; no thread ends to bury, as they will be buried inside the binding. For the photo you posted, I would start in the upper lefthand corner and sew to the lower righthand corner. You can choose how you work out each way from that middle line. One option is to simply sew the next line on each side and keep moving out until you are done. Another option would be to sew anchoring lines out from the middle, using the light/dark pattern edges as your anchoring lines, then fill in each section with additional lines.
Should mention also that, in addition to starch, spray basting helps a *lot* to keep all 3 layers in continuous contact with each other so there is no shifting as you quilt. Elmer's glue would be my second choice for the same reason. Both are better than pin basting or thread basting in terms of keeping layers from shifting. (For spray basting, 505 is better than other brands. With polyester batting, some basting sprays do not hold as well as 505.)