ruby2shoes

Goodness knows.....

Jane: I would love to send it to a longarmer to tackle but I just can't afford it.

Tiggersmom

I don't think it looks bad at all. Finish it and give it to a shelter if you then can't stand it.

madamekelly

Not only the warmth is unaffected, but when I finish a new quilt, I wash it to remove all the starch and Elmer’s school glue that I use for basting it. Cotton shrinks, so most of what you are seeing as “puckers” will probably wash away. Just change direction on each row, use a walking foot, and have fun. When I did a linear quilting on one of my quilts, at the end of each row, I just made my stitch longer and sewed about 1/8” away from the edge so I was sewing the basting for binding around the quilt as I went. Win, win. Two jobs done at once.

Jeanette Frantz

Ruby2shoes, none of us are "perfect" human beings -- the best we can strive for is excellence -- we're never going to achieve absolute perfection. Only one man ever walked the earth was perfect, he was the Son of God, and he was nailed to a tree. We're just not perfect -- if we were, we probably couldn't stand each other. I don't think your quilt looks bad at all. Set it aside for a while if you're stressing over it -- it will always look better in the morning!

mjpEncinitas

This looks fine to me. I do alternate the lines.
When you wash it , it will shrink slightly and have that slightly wrinkled look that old quilts have.
This is a great quilt. Finish it.

wildyard

Coming a bit late to this party, lol, but I want to add that I'm so happy you didn't give up on it. My only suggestions would be to use a longer stitch and space your cross-hatching much further apart. I agree with the person who said you don't want to lose your lovely pattern to the quilting. I have done cross-hatch a few times and it's never easy to avoid those little "issues", but they do mostly come out in the wash!!
A longer stitch leaves a little bit more room for the fabric to adjust under each stitch which gives you a little more room to adapt as you come to each intersection.
I actually think this particular quilt would do great with a loose and easy leaves and vines type pattern that you create as you go, like free motion, only you can do it with the feeds up... I have done it myself! Big leaf in a heart shape, vine over to another heart leaf, vine over... gentle curves and changes in direction.. it's kinda fun, even on my DSM.