Friendship braid-how to quilt?????
 

I have been tutoring my "first time quilting" long time girlfriend via e-mail for the past several months. It has been FUN but interesting to describe "HOW TO" in words rather than SHOW her. I am in WA state and she is in Ohio. She has successfully made a friendship braid quilt and now is asking me HOW to quilt it. Since this is her FIRST ever quilt (and 1st sewing machine!) I want to keep it simple and not get her frustrated. Would anybody out there who has made one of these, please tell me how you quilted yours! I'll be emailing your words of wisdom to her..... Thanks in advance.... anybody who lives close to Litchfield Oh who would like to mentor ????????? lol ! I am sure there are quilt board members out there ......

What about stitch in the ditch?

For a first timer, either stitch in the ditch, or 1/4" away from the seam like in this picture. Check Google Images for other ideas too, that's where I found this one.

http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl...&tx=153&ty=133

I usually suggest a serpentine stitch as it is so much easier and more forgiving than SID. A small serpentine would work well for the design above, I think.

Serpentine stitch
 

I hate to sound dumb but what is a serpentine stitch?

Serpentine is a common utility stitch on machines. It looks like an S . Basically it is a straight stitch that waves back and forth. If you Google "machine serpentine stitch" and click on "images" you should find some examples.

On most machines you can adjust the stitch length and width of the serpentine to suit your preference. On my Bernina 1230 it's stitch #3. I leave it at full width and lengthen the stitch to about 1.5.

I have a French Braid quilt that I had my long arm quilter quilt with a large, wide feather from center to top and center to bottom, using variegated thread. The feather was almost as wide as the braid itself.