I want to tag on to the rag quilt question if I may. Is there any reason I couldn't piece the entire top together and make a regular sandwich without cutting up the batting and then quilt in the blocks with my long arm? Do you have to cut
the batting and do the sandwich?

well goulash. i wanted to put a photo of mine in here. can't find attachment. anyway i did one with corduroy and cotton squares. maybe 10 inches. i did large X's and did a swirl on the others. started in the center of those sqs and turned and turned them while sewing the swirl. worked well. then put together.

I did it. My first quilt. I didn't have the time, patience, inclination or talent to make it the traditional way. I made it out of flannel and flannel backing. It was a wonderful quilt. I hate the strings that come afterwards tho!!

Good idea to run the hose out the door or go to laundrymat. That way you don't get all the little thread in the drain.

I'm making a rag quilt for my DGS of super hero's. The cotton prints are real busy and I wanted him to see his hero's easily. So I made my block 16" X 18" blocks. I did do some quilting on them. So far it's working out pretty good. I'm almost done. Will let you know how it turns out. I think I will make 2 more for my other DGS'S. I do hate the lint.

found browse and added a pic of mine. I actually did large X's in all the squares and swirls over all of them.

This would no longer be a rag quilt. I think you need to start a separate post because longarming flannel is a completely different technique, especially because of the stretchiness of flannel. I would definitely recommend heavily starching the flannel before cutting the pieces for the top; starching stabilizes the flannel so it doesn't distort as you work with it. (This is not such a problem with a rag quilt because precision is not necessary.) Ordinarily I would also recommend heavily starching the backing before creating the quilt sandwich; however, this may not be a good idea if you are longarming. There is not reason why you can't create a traditionally sandwiched quilt out of flannel; however, there are special considerations if you are piecing flannel and longarming flannel.

Hi, I love rag quilts made with flannel. As suggested by others going with a bigger block will work if you do more quilting. I did a rag quilt for my oldest sun and quilted pictures of his favorite things in each block, after I first went around the perimeter. This can also be a time to use some of the decorative stitch's in your machine. Have fun with it and let your creativity lead you.

when i first took a quilt class it was a rag quilt and we made it 9 in to finish out at 8 in we used flannel and we didnt use batting it was plenty heavy i still have it although my dog put a few holes in it when she was a puppy. i planned to fix it but never got around to it or unburied my leftover squares but i will.
carla m