question about straight line quilting
 

Should it go vertical as well as horizontal or is vertical enough?

your quilting should go in both directions- when the recommendations say to quilt every 2"=4" it means every 2"-4" in both directions should have stitching- if you simply (channel stitch) your batting can pull apart & ball up in the channels-so you will have areas with no batting & then gobs of balled up batting...you should follow the recommended quilting distance for your chosen batting & quilt in all directions to that specification...more is ok-less can be a problem.

It's better to have quilting in more than one direction, it helps to keep the movement of the layers minimized as well as keeps the batting from felting into one place.

Thank you KCcowl, I use painters tape.. keeps my lines streight ! have a quilt with lots of applique and 9 blocks.. each block is a bit differantly handled but will keep the channeling in mind ! I hope this one to be used and used and used hard !