What you picture looks perfectly normal to me. From what I can see your tension looks good. That little bit of gathering (I wouldn't call those puckers) on either side of your line of stitching is the result of the fabric and batting being compressed at the stitching line and the loft of the unstitched area on either side is causing this. Depending on how densely you quilt some of it will quilt out but some will still show. Here are some before and after shots to demonstrate. I had already densely quilted around those white sashiko squares. Oh my don't they look horribly wrinkled?
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Here is the same long shot of this quilt after I quilted in the white blocks. all those wrinkles and gathers quilted out. This quilt also has poly batting (Hobbs poly down). But look closely at the cornerstones in red that I quilted a single flower. There is a bit of that gathering in the unquilted areas of the cornerstones and it is completely normal.
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Last edited by feline fanatic; 12-05-2019 at 03:46 PM.