Piecing and Quilting

I love to sew pachtwork but when I need to quilt it I don't know how. I bought all the rulers that were recommended and still struggle.

I  put clear nail polish on the back of all my rulers and sprinkle with sea salt flakes,  it's cheap and easy and no more slipping,  hope this helps x

It is not necessary to sew lines first unless you are going to do some very in detail quilting. A nice overall design - even loops would be just fine here. - I don't like to do the stabilizing lines first unless I know I am going to do a very individualized quilting. 

If you intend to stitch in the ditch, I would do the two most center lines to secure the quilt. If you want to do crosshatching do the lies from corner to corner. I hope it make sense.

I would recommend doing some stabilizing lines. I try to do some Stitch in the ditch along the X and Y axis, starting from the middle. this helps me also graph/map out where I'll be quilting next. 

Check out quilting with a walking foot. You can Google it and you tube it. There are books on how to do it. It works for any size quilts. It takes so practice and planning but very worth it. Melissa Marginet has two books out on how to do it. And a web page.

You can free motion quilt with your feed dogs up and have more control over what you are quilting. It makes all the difference in the world to be able to sew in any direction when your quilt is under the needle. Try setting your length to zero and width to 4 or 5 and practice on a quilt scrap. When the stitches look the same on top and bottom then you have got it! Be sure and use a free motion foot and remember to leave your feed dogs up.

If you straight stitched on an angle, I think it would turn out very nice.  I use painter’s tape to mark the lines.  I’m just binding a similar quilt. I increase my stitch length to around 3.75 and use a walking foot. I’d love to see what you decide!