Ok..I have decided to bite the bullet and quilt my first quilt. I have a question though

I decided to take the advice of several people and to stitch in the ditch, but I also wanted to do horizontal stitch lines on the white squares because they are so plain. So my question is do I stitch in the ditch first or stitch the horizontal lines?

I would stitch in the ditch first, then add the other lines. Remember to start from the center of the quilt and work your way out. You can do the horizontal lines, or it may be easier to do and X in each plain block.

Your quilt looks lovely! Great job. Don't forget to post a pix of the finished quilt! Good luck.

I second what gaigai said. And welcome to the board blonde.

Yep, what gaigai said :wink: :wink: Hello and Welcome :D :D :D

When you hand quilt you try not to stop and start unless you have to. So you should do the x's as you go.

ditto :D

because you are going to do ditch quilting, make sure you REALLY have your quilt sandwhich taunt - if it is not taunt enough, after you do the ditch quilting and start on the "X's" in the white blocks, the loose fabric in the white blocks will get forced to the stitched edges and make a "mountain" of fabric you have to sew over! I learned this from my own experiences!

Best of luck and post a picture when you are done!

Good advice all, and welcome from Illinois!

i'm with loretta on this one.

i've never been able to SITD and then do lines with out ending up with a tiny pin tuck where it meets the STID.

It's happened to me too! Just take your time. Have you thought about using basting spray? It usually holds everything together and helps eliminate bunching.