Well, thanks to everyone that encouraged me...my quilt top is done! :-) I took it to the LQS with a sheet that I was going to use as a backing and the 2 women there discouraged me from doing so for numerous reasons. This particular sheet may not have been in the best condition (though I thought it was fine) so I agreed with their assessment...BUT still do not want to have to purchase more material for the back as I'm on a very tight budget. They suggested I see if I could piece the back with all the scraps that I had left over from the top.

The scraps are from some yardage...but most are from shirts so I'm limited with the size that I can use. I opted on 10 inch finished squares as I could maximize the use of my material with that size. Well...suddenly I realized that this is becoming a reversible quilt! Unintentionally...but I think it's going to be okay. But now here's my dilemma...

1)How does one quilt the top (that's on point) when the back is going to be so different?

2) I have only quilted one other quilt before this and it was smaller and it was SID. I did fine with it but originally thought with this one I would stitch an "X" through each square (doing a kind of grid pattern) since I have only a regular sewing machine.
But now since there's a whole other thing going on the back...would it be better if I did something else? And if so, what would look good?

3) I do have my mother's sewing machine and I recently purchased a free motion/darning foot to use on it...but I haven't used it yet. Is this something I should consider? Not sure I'm ready for it...or even if I can handle so much quilt through my machine.

Would really love to hear from those of you who have just a basic sewing machine...how do you quilt your large quilts and what would you do in this case?

Thanks so much! Karen

I quilt on a regular machine all the time. I just pin together the excess to make it managable. You can still do the "X" that you wanted to. It will look fine on either side. I am sure there will be more help coming your way. Can't wait to see it all done!

I'm a true newbie to machine quilting, but I think I would personally try SID following the design of the front. That should come out nicely on the back as a diagonal design through your blocks.

Your grid design idea should work too I would think.

I think the "X" would look fine on the back as well. Can't wait to see it all quilted!! I love that you are doing a scrappy backing!

I vote SID!

i vote for sid also

I quilt all the time on my domestic machine, although I don't consider myself a pro. I think your idea of SID would look good on both sides. But you'll never be comfortable with free motion until you do it, so pick the project you want to learn on and go for it.

Let me know how it works for you. I have an older machine and also bought a darning foot. I have been using the walking foot as I can't make the darning foot work. By the way, quilt the top as you want and the back all falls into place. You'll see!!!

i have done a couple two sided quilts. one i did SID on the topside and it turned out okay. the second one i did was a quilt as you go and it was much easier. the last one i did an all over stripe patterne for the quilting so basically i did a line every couple inches which neither lined up to the front or the back squares but looked great. the hardest part is getting the front and back to stay lined up properly so i have learned to add borders to the backside so it is slightly larger than it needs to be and the excess can be trimmed off later.
i also have a hard time working a walking foot so i just stopped trying because for some reason it tends to break my needles as i'm going

I really don't worry too much about the backs, more important for the front to look the best. Only one side at a time can be used.