Sashing Help
 

Today I finished the first quilt that I FMQ myself. While I feel good about finishing it I realize I have a long way to go. So many mistakes but I figured I couldn't continue to practice forever. It is much different pushing a quilt through my sewing machine that it is a quilt sandwich. My questions is, I have quilted all the blocks separately and wonder if I need to to any additional quilting to the sashing. There are X's at the corner stones but does it need more?? All of you are always so helpful. It is hard to see in the picture and the sashing looks wobbly but that's my photograph not the quilt. Thanks!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]559866[/ATTACH]

How wide and long are your sashing strips and what distance does your batting require? If you used warm & natural which allows up to 10" between quilting lines and your sashing strips are 8" long your corner X's are fine. If you used a batting that requires quilting every 2"-4" you need quilting in your strips. Quilting recommendations are ( in all directions)

You know, it is your quilt and you have done a lot and if the batting is fine with the distances in between stitches, the sashing can be left as is.

As far as the batting goes, you wouldn't need to add quilting to the sashing. I personally usually like to SID and then add a little design within the sashing just to tie it in with the rest of the quilt. For yours, I'd probably do a narrow little leafy vine running along the sashing & would use the ditches to travel stitch (which is partly why SID is so important -- so you don't have the odd little line of stitching running from one design to the next that's just floating out there without any connection to anything else). It would tie together the print of your fabric & the sections, while incorporating a design that has both straight & curvy elements to it. Leafy vines are a good design for those who are newer to FMQ. It was the first thing I learned after the curvy meander.

Because it's a solid (or near solid) fabric that is carried throughout your entire quilt, it will natural draw the eye to that fabric so my thought is: why not give the viewer something pretty to look at in that section? But it's certainly not necessary. It's entirely an artistic decision.

Nicely done with the FMQ, by the way!!!

I always SID on each side of the sashing and if he sashing is wider than 1" would stitch a zig zag or some design in the middle. I find it holds the quilt together very firmly and usually looks nice since it adds to the quilt.

Whether you decide to quilt in the sashing is certainly a choice you need to make based on the overall quilt appearance when you lay it out fully. We are only seeing a portion of it. I think it might look like you missed some spaces if every other design element has quilting in it. I like to quilt just a small motif in sashings that complement the squares. Lay it out and look at it for a little while and see what you think.

Good for you for finally FMQing your first quilt...it's like taking off the training wheels. As far as quilting your sashing, it may look naked compared to the rest of the quilt if you didn't fill in that space...I like Bree's suggestion of a viny leaf pattern.

I would simply SID unless the sashing is really wide. A diamond stitch would be fairly easy if you feel quilting is necessary.

Thank you all so much for your quick response. I will go back to the machine and SID and try the leafy design down the middle.

You are so right that you can't practice forever; congratulations on jumping in! Since you have quilting to each side of your sashing and it looks like a narrow sashing, you wouldn't need to quilt it for practical purposes, if you're pleased with the look of it unquilted. It's hard to make an assessment of the overall look from the close-up photo.