Red Quilt Quilted

Hurray!  My mother-in-law's red quilt has been quilted.

This quilt started out terribly...I could not get my thread to cooperate.  First it kept tangling, then it kept skipping stitches.  I wondered if it was due to the applique on the back of the quilt, and so kept going without too much trouble-shooting.  But then I finished the applique section and it was still skipping stitches.  So I put in a second needle and voila!  Everything worked.  Putting down a row of nicely placed stitches is a great feeling.

The pattern is Atomic Squares from Angela Walters' book.  I probably didn't read the instructions quite right, but I think my spacing could be a little better.  I did a lot of marking on this quilt, so I marked the horizontal line 1" under the lowest line from the section above (the red arrow below).  If I do this design again, I should mark 1" from the bottom of the boxes (green arrow) and bring the top of the boxes up higher so that they nest better.  I think it still looks fine, but that is how I would improve it.  I also marked the horizontal line, the right vertical line on the boxes, and the top of the boxes.  That worked pretty well for me...not everything was marked, but it helped to keep everything under control.

Here's the back.  I like the red thread on the black background

Even though it had a rough start, I was pretty happy with it by the end!  I was especially happy that even without a ruler my straight lines were more or less straight.  (Sure, they're not perfect, but they're also not jumping all over the place.)

Update: I just realized I didn't have any 'full quilt' pictures.  While these still don't fit the bill, there is one more of the front and back...