I am all for straight lines. Guess I don't think outside the box. Jan, #4 is my favorite. Just adds a certain pizazz. Thank you so much for these guides.

Jeanne S, I like your quilt so much that I have gotten the pattern, am cutting my scrap batiks and I have ordered some Kona for the enters and squares. Now that you have shown the quilting, I am doubly impressed.....Thank you, so much, for sharing this.....:) I do not have a LA so either have to send this out or do it myself. I may do it myself now!!!!

I have done straight line quilting on several Carpenter Star quilts (which is my favourite pattern) & they have turned out
great. I feel (IMHO) that sometimes, depending on the quilt pattern, meandering or other intricate designs really take away from the beautiful quilt pattern, that's just my opinion. You can do lots of straight line designs & it just takes some thought at which one will enhance the pattern. Don't be afraid to try it.

I am so glad you are making one like this. The straight line quilting on this one is very easy and I did not even mark the lines because the pattern finishes in 2" strips, so I just followed the design seams straight down. I did all these lines at 2" spacing, then it was really easy to go back and add a line in the middle of those to get the final 1" spacing. I hate to mark quilts so usually just "eyeball" it using the pattern seams as spacing references.

I too hate stitching in the ditch. No good at it. I use a domestic machine that i both sew and quilt on. Jan good advise as always. I do a lot of cross hatching; it works very well for me, usually 3-7 inches apart,

More and more I find myself using echo quilting because I am happy with it right now. I may branch out or not because I am happiest doing the piecing. If I could quilt them all by check, I would. If your quilting makes you happy, use what ever feels right.

Lovely quilt, Jeanne! The pieced back is terrific. :-)

Thank you for the suggestions, Jan. I think I'm going to try more straight line quilting, too. Do you switch the directions with each row?

Actually, fivepaws, I believe straight lines ARE thinking outside the current box, just not as STD. I love all the designs I posted and the straight line designs others have posted!

Jan in VA

Usually, yes, I switch direction. But, if the top is well basted (I mostly, but not always, baste by hand with thread) and if I'm using a walking foot, I don't worry quite as much.

I stitch the easiest way, lifting the needle at the end of a row, moving over. heading in another path.

And, with straight stitching (SS) I can often start my line of quilting just off the edge of the quilt, in the extra batting, and forget that "6-close-together-stitches-to-start-or-end" dictum (sugessted by Harriet Hargrave years ago)....saves a little bit of time over the whole quilt. :)

I'm telling you, most of my secrets come because I'm the laziest quilter ever! :o

Jan in VA

I love this discussion because I have felt very inadequate as I don't know how to do FMQ. I've just done SS on everything I make or STD.