Are there any challenges to making a quilt that is pieced on both sides? The only thing I can think of right now is that my intention to "stitch in the ditch" will be a little off on at least one side b/c I'm sure I won't be able to matches "ditches" exactly on both sides.

I'm planning on making a quilt for a friend who's in the hospital, from donated squares. She's a police officer and very well-connected in the community, and so I'm thinking that I may get a TON of squares for this project, necessitating the need to piece both sides.

Thanks for any advice!

I'm sorry your friend is in the hospital :(

I would not even try to match up the ditches - it might be interesting to have squares on one side and either diamonds or a brick-pattern on the other. Or if you do have squares on both sides, how about meandering instead of stitching in-the-ditch?

I hope you do get a lot of squares!

Thanks for the tips! But..Meandering? LOL. I meander around my house looking for my keys and my cell phone, and then I meander around wondering what I was going to do with both... because my thoughts meander all the time like crazy! I don't think I can pull off any meandering with a quilt just yet.

But that is a good idea about different patterns both sides - I was afraid that might make quilting more difficult, but now I see it could work better! I'll see what "materializes."

This friend isn't a really close friend - we hung out all the time when she lived right in my town (and when we ran for office together, LOL - but THAT's another story) but haven't seen each other so much since she moved a bit further off. She's a really special person though. Someone I most certainly want to honor and encourage during this time! She was stabbed while on duty and it's quite a miracle that she survived. It happened a month ago, and she's only recently starting to be the slightest bit coherent. She has a very hard and long recovery ahead of her.

So yeah - I might get a lot of squares....

The only disadvantage to double piecing is all the extra time. It also doesn't give you the solid lack of seams to avoid pressure points that might have seams popping. The batting normally fixes that though. 2 patterns with seams in different spots is probably good for extra insurance.

I actually think "meandering" or stippling is the easiest way to quilt. All you do is just stitch any way you like as long as you don't cross your line. It's my favorite way to quilt.

The only disadvantage to double piecing is all the extra time. It also doesn't give you the solid lack of seams to avoid pressure points that might have seams popping. The batting normally fixes that though. 2 patterns with seams in different spots is probably good for extra insurance.

I'm so glad I asked this question! That's an important point, because I definitely want this quilt to be durable!

As far as the meandering... I'm assuming that you only do this by hand and not machine. And right now, my capabilities are limited to machine-quilting. I've actually only ever finished 2 quilts, and one was for a doll!

I'm so glad I asked this question! That's an important point, because I definitely want this quilt to be durable!

As far as the meandering... I'm assuming that you only do this by hand and not machine. And right now, my capabilities are limited to machine-quilting. I've actually only ever finished 2 quilts, and one was for a doll!

No, the meandering is definitely a machine quilting technique. YOu just put your feed dogs down and turn . This link looks good. Stipple Quilting on Needlepointers.com - Quilting > Stipple Quilting (http://www.needlepointers.com/ShowArticles.aspx?NavID=1689)

I might be wrong on the seam thing, its just how I think it would work.

I agree with Hastings about seams being a weak point in any quilt, especially the corners where 4 squares might butt together - but I think if you have a close enough quilting pattern (ie if you did diagonals every 3-4 inches), then that should be sufficient to keep things in place. I remember reading someone's comments on meandering where they suggested making sure that you quilted close to every corner for durability.

I personally would suggest practicing meandering before starting it on your larger quilt. Grab some scraps and batting, start small, and work up to larger pieces. Or make some charity quilts. It's best to keep the quilt's own weight from pulling on any part of the part being sewn - I find this even more important in meandering than in in-the-ditch quilting, since you yourself are controlling the stitch length (rather than the feed dogs doing it for you).

When you come to the binding, please consider making your own, rather than using the packages that come in stores. What I generally do is either make biased or straight-grain pieces of fabric 2.5-2.75" wide, pieced to at least 8" longer than the perimeter of the quilt, and press it in half lengthwise. (when you piece the binding, do it on a slant so that the seams within the binding don't get too bulky when you're sewing it on the quilt.) Then with the raw edges of quilt and binding together, sew it by machine all the way around - there are lots of sites which explain how to join the two ends so I won't go into that here (though I could - I talk way too much!). Now when you attach the folded edge of the binding to the back of the quilt, you'll see that there are *two* layers of nice quality fabric which will make the very edge of the quilt, rather than *one* layer of rather yucky fabric that you'd have if you used store-bought binding. Can you tell I really don't like store-bought binding? Anyway, it should last longer. I leave it up to you as to whether you want to hand-attach the binding or use your machine... I'd think as this quilt may be "reversible", I'd probably hand-attach so it's pretty on both sides.

I'll be quiet now!

Well - although I appreciate all the advice about meandering, I think I'll save that for another quilt - a smaller one, like you mentioned - or smaller ONES for practice! I have a feeling I'm going to be putting this one together rather quickly, and I just get too bogged down trying new things.

And as far as binding - I didn't know you could buy it?! So far I've made mine b/c it's a fabric choice I make from the beginning. I do need to start mitre-ing the corners though... I've been too lazy with the quilts I've made so far, but it's really not that big a deal!

It sounds like my friend's sister is going to put up an announcement on her website soon, so hopefully I'll get a feel in about, say 2 weeks of how this is all going to shape up.

Thanks again for all the help! I always feel so much more confident when I get great info like this!

LOL, maybe I picked the wrong project... After the email announcement went out to let people know about the quilt and where to send squares, etc... I immediately got email questions from 2 different... knitters! 2 Friends want to knit a square, since that's what they do and what they are known for. We had some discussion about yarn - probably cotton being the best, and about sizing, and it looks like what I'll get from them is a knitted square a little larger than the squares that I'll ultimately cut - to allow for shrinking (I'll prewash these knitted squares to make sure) and then still have a seam allowance.

So... anybody ever add a knitted square to a quilt? I'm thinking about either backing them with muslin and just treating them like the rest, or hand-stitching them on top of other squares like an applique or something... I dunno... any ideas? (Short of making an afghan instead, LOL)

Thanks again - I'm enjoying learning from you all!

honestly? that sounds crazy to me. it's quite possible I'm on the picky side though ;) but I don't think I'd like working with something like that. and I don't think I'd like the way it would end up looking/feeling odd. And, if you're machine quilting, I think it might really get in the way.

Could the 2 knitters each make a square the same size...15" or 18" or so...and the 2 pieces be stitched together into a pillow to go with the quilt?

yep, I wouldnt' stick knitting in a pieced quilt.. I'd make a pillow to go with it.

Another one who would nix the knitted squares... unless you maybe applique them onto the quilt (onto muslins that you put there on purpose to be appliqued over) after everything's all put together and quilted?? Because I would think they'd be really difficult to work with during piecing and quilting, because of the different thicknesses involved.

I have used knitted squares in a quilt before, but it was kind of difficult, but totally doable. I asked that they be made out of as thin of a yarn as possible which meant that they weren't too much thicker than my other squares. I also sewed a piece of plain fabric behind the knitted squares because I was worried about the batting coming through. The ones that I used were acrylic yarn, but I really think that the only one that I wouldn't want to use in a quilt would be wool yarn.

With the knitted squares after they were pieced I ironed the seam allowance into the middle of the square and topstitched around the inside of the square so that it would lay as flat as possible.

I have made a lot of crazy quilts with all different types of fabrics and embellishments so I would not consider myself any sort of typical quilter.

Malissa