Channel Quilting

Because of some of the quilting tutorials I have watched, I learned that Channel Quilting is one of the better choices for a home quilter on a small machine can use with a quilt that has a lot of applique to it. It is simply straight lines with an equal distance. 

Commercially made quilts with this stitch are done with many rows at a time, so it looks perfect. Perfection is a goal for the home quilter, but it is rarely if ever achieved. Hard to reconcile for a perfectionist. The other option is to take it to a long arm and get that commercial look.

I have a quilting foot with a movable guide that helps with this particular stitch. I decided to do the stitches horizontally on this Row by Row Seasons mystery quilt. Because I finish my own quilts, I tend to keep them smaller so I can handle them on my machine. 

This one is 65" wide. I started close to the middle of it, rolled one of the ends to it so it would fit under the throat with the remainder laying over the other edge loose. This is the second day working on it and I have not finished even half of the quilt.

What is still hard for me is to see the 'wrinkled' look evolve. I KNOW that wrinkling is what makes it look quilted. I know that it will wrinkle more as it is laundered. It is meant to do this. 100% cotton shrinks. Cotton batting shrinks 3% on the first wash. That means 3" for every 100 inches.