Thank you all so much for the encouraging words....I have wanted to throw in the towel on quilting lately.....I know I am expecting perfection when I have only made a few quilts and they were mostly rag...I am still using flannel....I will be glad when I have used most of it up and then will try to start making regular quilts.....It is my sanity right now.....Blessings

quilting amount is dependant on the batting being used- some batts need to be quilted every 2" some allow up to 10" between quilting lines- you need to read your package & quilt the recommended amount.
you quilt your borders before binding- binding is the final step after all quilting is completed & the quilt is squared up...the quilting process distorts the quilt a little & there should be excess backing/batting to be trimmed after the quilting is completed- after that a label & the binding is attached...and Voila---it is done!

You have a great start to FMQ ! I sew borders on my quilt, sandwich it, then machine quilt the quilt. I leave the quilting on the borders until last. After quilting the borders, I then square it up and sew the binding on.

I do a large stipple on the main part of the quilt,stitch in the ditch along the border, then a slightly smaller stipple on the border. I find that quilting the border takes up any waviness that may have accurred when attaching the border, and makes attaching the binding easier.