Stephanie,

I don't believe I said I wanted to SID. My plans were to do a diamond pattern similar to my machine cover in the pics above. I have two or three SID feet if I need them. Although I've never used them either.

I'm almost finished with the two tops, just two more long divider strips on the second one. Then on to cutting the batting and back.

And I'm almost out of time. I need to get them to AZ before Christmas. Eeeeekkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!

Joe

Sorry, Joe. I also use the SID foot for stitching grids, so in my mind, I went right to SID.

Stephanie,

Not a problem. And it is a viable option. I have been considering it.

Joe

As you know, there is more than one way to do everything. A lot of people like to use a guide arm on a WF or other foot; I find that it is too easy to accidentally move the guide, so I prefer to mark the top and use the SID foot. Whatever works.

Both these quilts are the same design. Three blocks of 9 across and three blocks of 9 long with each block separated by a divider strip. There is a larger square in the center of the quilt with a large print of cats on it. Around that we put a trim of each aunts birthday colors. Basically all right angles to the piecing. I was wanting to use the diamond pattern to quilt it to add some dimension to it. I didn't want it to be all squares and straight lines. That's why I wanted to use the WF. But again I'll be trying several things.

Joe

Stephanie,

I didn't do a good job of describing these quilts. I have a pic of the first one when mostly finished. I wanted it a bit longer than it was so we added one more row to the bottom after this pic was taken.
Plus I'd forgotten the actual number of squares. These actually started out as lap quilts and just grew.
The second quilt has the extra row built in.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o.../Dquilttop.jpg

As you can see it's all straight lines. That's why I wanted the diagonal quilting.

Joe

Joe, you might want to use water soluble thread to lay down some straight lines to stabilize the quilt, and then do your diagonal quilting by whatever means you choose. Just an idea; your mileage may vary.

??Water soluble thread?? That's one I've never heard of. I'll tell my wife and see if she's heard of it. Thanks for the tip.

Joe

i don't have advice about the foot, but i'm wondering two things. 1 - did you have the layers basted sufficiently, either with safety pins or thread? typically i would hand stitch a gridline about 4" apart to anchor things. and 2. you mentioned on the sample you stitched the edges first - there isn't any foot that's going to prevent wadding up if the edges are stitched first. even with a walking foot & basting your layers may move some. with multiple layers you always want to first baste it thoroughly and then start in the middle and work out. the bigger your project is, the more important it is to start in the middle.

for the diamond straight stitch pattern you've got, i'd literally start in the middle of the sandwich and go to one edge, then return to the middle and stitch the straight line to the opposite side. i'd probably do a couple of lines like that to get everything anchored thoroughly in the middle, then i'd switch to going the entire way across in one line, checking as i went to make sure nothing's gathering up. i'd do all of one half before returning to the middle and working out from there to quilt the opposite side.

i have a really good walking foot on my 503a and i always baste first and start in the middle.

does that make sense?

Yep it do.

I put the sample quilt together late at night when I was quite tired. Had I been thinking I would have never stitched around the edge.

Safety pins ...... I hadn't thought of that. Sounds a lot easier to undo than thread..

Joe