Hi everyone, I'm posting a picture of my finished quilt top. I was hoping to get some advice on how to actually do the quilting, bearing in mind that:

a) This is only my second quilt.
b) After I finished my first quilt, I chickened out and tied it. (I was later rather unkindly informed by a clerk at the craft store that this meant I had not in fact made a quilt, but a comforter. So I guess that means that this is technically only my first quilt.)
so c) I have never done any actual quilting before.
and d) This is for my six year old son

I was thinking of just keeping it simple and quilting only the 12 corner squares. Not sure what design might look good on this quilt ... any suggestions very much appreciated!

Becki

Stitch in the ditch around all of the squares and rectangles. That was my first try at quilting and I kept going until I was brave enough to try FMQ.

Nice quilt! It'd probably hang on my wall for a year or so while I decided what to do with it :)

A very pretty quilt! Love the colors!

This is your second quilt -- that clerk was misinformed! Tying is a method of holding a quilt together that is centuries old.

It is hard to advise you without knowing what types of quilting you would consider. Since you're a newbie, I'd say use your sewing machine to do straightline quilting. I think that quilting straight across the quilt, on a line that will be 1/4 to 1/2 inch inside the seamline of a block would be good. Does that make sense? One half inch masking tape is good for marking long straight lines on a quilt top.

First of all, the clerk in the store is a nitwit.
Secondly, your top is lovely.

Now to the quilting: A lot of it depends on what batting you use because it dictates how far apart your quilting lines can be. (You can always go tighter than the max). I agree with Ps150 that Stitch in the ditch is a good beginner quilting style. I still do many of mine that way. Yo can easily identify the seams you want to SID and then go for it.

Good job! I agree with lyndaloo....the clerk was dead wrong!!! soooo....this is in fact your second quilt, congratulatiions. Since it is for your young son and will most likely be loved and washed ofter, I would do a close all over pattern such as meadering.

I would stitch around the squares. Nice and easy straight quilting. It will look great. I love the quilt. And tying a quilt to finish it is perfectly fine. This is your second quilt. They didn't know what they were talking about.

The clerk was wrong quilts have ben tied for years, and many quilters will continue to tie them. your quilt is lovley keep up the good work.

I think you should get some handcuffs and go back to that store and tell that clerk to turn around and handcuff her to a needle and yarn and a quilt and tell her to tie the quilt until YOUR hearts content OR UNTIL she realizes that tieing a quilt is PERFECTLY fine to do. I bet if her grandma quilted she tied hers. LOL. There thats as far as my mean streak goes. :)