Quilting in-the-Ditch

I’ll be honest, I’ve never really quilted before. After what I just started, I may decide not to ever again.

So I figured if I was going to make a quilt, I’d actually, you know, try to quilt it. Most every blanket I’ve done has just been tied, however most every blanket I’ve done have also been for babies and are much smaller. Something tells me I should have figured on using that size to test out my machine quilting skills.

Anyway, I finished piecing the top of my quilt with the framed 9-patches and alternating square border. I then laid it over thin cotton batting, my favorite both for ease of use and look it gives after washing, and pinned it into place, cutting the excess with a two inch border around the entire quilt. After that I put on my backing, which for this I’m using the same natural cotton muslin as I used as a filler for the front (what can I say, I love the look of natural muslin) and added yet another two inch border out from the batting after pinning it all together.

I agonized over which type of quilting I should do for this project and in the end decided that it would either be straight lines between each adjoining seam or in-the-ditch in the seams themselves. To really make the colorful squares pop, I chose in-the-ditch. Before I started quilting I carefully stitched up any areas that weren’t properly sewn together or had begun to come loose. This happens unfortunately and is much easier to repair before you start quilting then after. I also embroidered my name and date-year on the back corner just for the heck of it.

Now, for some reason in my head I was thinking it would be a good idea to quilt a frame around the entire edge of the quilt first and work my way from various angles. This was a horrible idea and I must protest if you are thinking of doing the same. My logic was that it would help to keep everything in place, but in reality it just created a major issue with bunching towards the end of each area I was quilting. What I would suggest instead is work from the center in one direction, smooth out the adjacent area, and continue before turning it 90 degrees and repeating the process. I’m not too worried about this particular quilt because it is just for us to use, but if I were to put it in my Etsy shop I’d have to put it in the Ghetto category or maybe Totally Amateurish category. Hey, crafting is a trial and error learning practice, is it not? Hopefully I can salvage the rest of this quilt before the whole thing goes awry.