Xs and Os Update

After way too many months of sitting in the basted-but-not-quilted pile, I have finally been making some progress on getting Xs and Os quilted and ready for binding. This little quilt has been waiting for a surge of creativity, and in the process, holding up several other projects as it is a test for a new batting, was using up most of my basting pins, and I'm hoping to bind one more quilt in the same material I use on this one.

Creativity did not exactly strike. I had hoped to do something across the whole thing -- a stippling type effect -- but when push came to shove, I just couldn't bring myself to quilt over the top of those fabrics. Instead, although it's nearly impossible to see from the top, from the back you might be able to see that I more or less outlined the neutral solid and ignored all of the print blocks.

This does leave about 6.5 inches of non quilted space in the center of every X -- but I double checked my bag of batting and it claims I can go 10 inches between lines of quilting. I'm not sure it's true, but I think I'm going to take my chances. I'm testing this batting anyway, so it would be good to know what it is capable of. So far, I'm not very fond of it. Even with a new, small needle, the back side (bobbin side) has a lot of batting strings that pulled through each needle hole. I am hoping that this will wash out and be less of an issue, but I'm glad I tested this on a little, so far homeless quilt, rather than on our bedroom quilts like I'd intended.

My goal is to whip out the binding as quickly as I can so I can get it washed and really test how well the batting works, whether it needs more quilting than the 10 inch spacing, and whether the loose stringy pieces of batting that pulled through to the back get a little less noticeable. Of course I'm hoping for 'yes' on all of these issues, but only time -- and a washing -- will tell!