matching the backing to the top
 

I have a dear friend who has requested a scrappy quilt, made from 10 inch squares. He wants a blanket for the middle and doesn't care what is on the back. He also doesn't want it quilted, just tied. I had an idea of to save him money by using the 10 inch squares to also make the backing. I thought I could match up the squares front to back and machine tack each corner, giving the quilt more stability at the seam intersections. This isn't something I have done before and am not sure how to make this work. Am I biting off more than I want to chew? Is there an easy way to get them lined up? I am open to any suggestions. Thanks in advance, Rose

Wow, that is a tough one. I have thought of doing a pieced backing, and even that seemed a bit daunting. You may probably have better luck than I did, if you go to the local church quilting group and ask to use the lovely big tables there. The lighting may be an advantage also. I would measure both and try pinning the corners first. Good luck. I hope it works out for you.

Rose: No, at least for me. I piece the backs of my quilts all the time, usually using left overs from the front with a few extra thrown in. I'm thinking if you are going to tie it, on one side the ties will be hardly visible so it won't matter very much if they aren't perfectly at the corners.

I'm not sure how using 10" squares for the back would save money, unless you're planning to use squares that you already have on hand, and it can certainly be hard to line them up. I agree with Emma that the ties won't show very much on one side of the quilt. It would be a lot easier to use a single fabric on the back, or a pieced back that doesn't need to be matched to the front.

ITA with Dunster ... if you are wanting to do the back in squares, just to give some interest to it, then my suggestion would be to pick a large print that could do that for you. It could make for a nice reversible quilt.

Do a QAYG and then you can use anything you want on the back with no problem, it will line up perfectly.

I don't worry about the back lining up to the front. I piece my backs and often incorporate leftover blocks from the front. I have tried twice to perfectly line up the blocks on the back with the front and have never been able to pull it off. When I do my quilting, I quilt for the front, not the back. I don't think it will matter if the ties aren't in the corners of the blocks on the back.

I'm not sure that I understand you questions completely, but I think if you are matching top blocks to backing blocks. When I try to match the front to the back at a specific point, I pin baste it first. First, I lay out the quilt sandwich trying to get them lined up at the outside edges and start at one end. I put a needle in the spot on the top quilt, and gently lift/roll the bottom up and push the needle through the spot on the back that I want it to match. I then pin it at that point. I suppose you could tie at that point as well. This works best when the size of the top blocks match the size of the backing quilt. This is time consuming, but you do get the blocks matched up well.

Just an idea. I would make the blocks bigger but think of do it as a quilt as you go method???