I'm new to site....a frustrated, self-taught quilter. Have made several, and struggled w/most of them. I'm now making a quilt for a middle aged man, pattern is 10 in. squares of diagonal strips alternating w/plain brown 10 in. squares. (sort of checkerboard pattern). Does anyone have suggestions for the actual quilting stitching on the diagonal strip squares and the solid brown squares?

I'm not much help in the quilting dept. Just wanted to welcome you to the board. The current baby quilt I'm working on, I quilting in the ditch with a decorative stitch. That is about as daring as I get:)

Thanks a bunch erston! The first baby quilt I ever made, I quilted in a straight, diamond pattern on my old Kenmore sewing machine. In time, a lot of the stitches popped. Since then I've done hand quilting...a slow, enjoyable and relaxing process. Maybe someone else will have a pattern for me.

Welcome from Michigan. Sorry can't help with the stitching suggestions. I struggle with that too.

thanks Lori. It's great to be on here! Many sites are so user unfriendly I can't navigate them so i just give up. This one is fantastic.
Well maybe I didn't state clearly enough what I need. I have some ideas on the quilting stitches...maybe a large Shamrock in the middle of the brown squares,, or a fan pattern, scrolls, etc. but I need to do something that is masculine for this guy. He is paying me to make him this quilt, so I need to do a good job for him. Maybe I'll do straight lines on the strip squares; don't think a pattern would show up. Thanks everyone; you are awesome.

Good Morning and Welcome from Michigan!

i would do a cross hatch pattern maybe..if you have quilters bar that attches to your walking foot, it should stay the same width apart..
what kind of baatting did you use? it should say on there the distance between quilt lines..

Hi :) Welcome from Minnesota!

welcome!

Hi Kim, and thanks for reply. Actually I do only hand quilting...can't get into the machine quilting thing. I am "old school" I guess, like to do it like Mom and Grandma did. My older sister actually hand pieces her quilt tops, but I draw the line there!!! I piece on the sewing machine but after that, everything is done by hand.

Hello from New York and way to go girl- HAND quilting thats a foreign language to me Longarmer here Check out some of the pictures under search for manly quilts to see some of the quilting.

Hello, and welcome from Idaho!

Hello and welcome from North Carolina! I used to only hand quilt. I started learning machine a little over two years ago and have been creating so much more!

Hello, welcome and happy quilting from Germany!

Hello and welcome from Nevada!

Hello from Western Mountain Maryland !!

Welcome to the board from Southern California!!!

Welcome from MI

Welcome from Indianapolis, IN

Welcome and Howdy from Kentucky! http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/s...um/welcome.gif

Hi, haven't been on here for quite a while...have had somehealth issues this year and quilting got pushed on the back burner along with most things. lol This year I'd love to buy a new machine. Have a 12 yr. old Bernina that I hate. Read on here that Baby Lock is a great one, but sounds ultra expensive! Any ideas? I'd like to stay around $600 if I can.

Welcome to the board from North Carolina. You're going to LOVE it here :)

Hello and welcome to the Quilting Board from sunny Nevada!

If you're still looking for quilting ideas, I like your idea of just straight stitching on the striped part, where a pattern wouldn't be noticed anyway. For the blocks, I'd stick with something from Nature. It is a "guy quilt". Is there something he likes in particular that would be from nature? I think I would mix them up as well. A shamrock is lovely, but I don't think I'd like to see a whole quilt full of them. Do a search on "Nature - images" and see what comes up. You don't want the image too complicated. If you find a theme you like, or more than one, you can do individual searches on those. I'll bet you come up with several images to use. Perhaps you end up with 2, 3 or 4 images that you vary across the quilt. That would be nice, I think.

When it comes to sewing machines, I wouldn't recommend a new one for $600. Do you have a Craig's list where you live? The problem with Craig's list is that too many people sit around and wait for something to be listed, and mourn when it's not, or complain if the price is too high. Better to take the bull by the horns. Go the the "In Search of" part of Craig's List (I think that's what it's called. It's where people are looking to buy something), and spell out what you want and how much you can spend. What usually happens is that someone's child or children will see the ad, and get their parents to answer it because they know Mom has a such-and-such sewing machine that works great but is just gathering dust! The parents aren't used to things like Craig's List, but the kids are, so they go after the parents. It's worth a try! And if you come up with nothing, try again in a few months. Me, I love the Janome's. They are real workhorses, and they last forever. I love mine. I know people who've had them for years and won't give them up, because they're so used to them that no new options and stitches can lure them away. But don't just ask me. Put up a post on the Main section, and ask what to look for. You'll get answers that aren't as "biased" as mine!

Best of luck to you! Happy Holidays!

Hello, and welcome from Michigan!