I've also heard that they used the length of their quilting needle to determine the spacing between the rows of stitching to keep it consistent!

Eileen, what an interesting story about the baptist fan quilting design. . .I had not heard it before!

The Baptist Fan can be hand quilted! That's how the Amish do it. Back in the 1800's it was called "elbow" quilting. They used their elbow as the pivot point like a compass and would draw the lines to be quilted. If you have plates, you can use them too. Saucer to cake plate to dinner plate. There's 3 quilting lines!
Just a thought,

! UPDATE !

I'll give you the update in a minute, but I want to start with a thank you, Eileen, for the suggestion of the Baptist fan pattern. Two things: First, thanks for the Digi-Tech link! Not only did my eyebrows shoot up over all the design choices (you longarmers are an amazing knowledge source!) but I kind of did a heel-of-hand-to-forehead motion because I didn't think of looking to the internet for pattern ideas. I'd drug out my four of five books on antique quilts to see how our ancestors would quilt this. There was not a 4 patch to be found in any of my books.

Secondly, I'd used that pattern before, not knowing it was a quilt quilt pattern. In '06 I designed and made a "love jacket" for a dear friend to wear when she went in for chemo treatments. Maybe too much info, but she had to have a port put in her body to receive the chemo, so I made a special opening in the jacket for this purpose. She did love the jacket and actually wore it quite often, but most of the compliments she got were for the coordinated scarf I knitted for it. Har!

Ok, I'm getting off track, because I miss my friend and always like to talk about her. The thing is, I did a bunch of sashiko embroidery on her quilted rayon batik jacket using a "wave" pattern from a sashiko book that is exactly like this Baptist fan! Good thing she never found out the pattern had another name with "Baptist" in it as she was, shall we say, nonreligious.

Now for the update. After I'd written the other messages above, I took the top off the wall to wash it. Turns out it was all hand pieced. The cute thing is that there are even some squares that are two pieces. My great-great aunt used every teeny piece of fabric she had. How sweet.

So now I have to hand quilt it.

Incidentally, the top is rather small. I haven't measured it, but I think it was inteded to be a standard size.

Today, after pressing it, I will put it on my dining table and start the decision process on the quilt pattern. At the moment, I'm considering the possibility of incorporating the crosshatching, along with maybe spots of feathers.

Thank you, my new friends, for all your input! I'll be in touch!

Teddie

Baptist fan would definitely be a good traditional option and they are actually easy to do by hand or by machine!

Teddie,
What about a Baptist Fan pattern? Here's a picture: http://stores.digitechpatterns.com/-strse-500/Baptist-Fan-Pantograph-by/Detail.bok
The main thing I don't like about crosshatching is that there is a lot of strain put on the thread. I like Ritzy's idea about the wavy line though.
Why do you want to hand quilt it?

Ritzy and Margo, thanks for your responses!

Margo, you're right that my main desire is to have a finished quilt instead of just a top. It's been hanging on a wall in my sewing room. The neat thing about it is how it matches my wallpaper, and it would look so much nicer if it wasn't just an unpressed wonky top with raw edges.

I'm a decent free-motion machine quilter, but I feel like the "right" thing is to hand quilt it. Although -- and, to use one of Alex's favorite phrases -- I love, love, love your idea of using feathers! And thanks for the link to the "Meandering Magic" book. That is definitely a book I will look into getting.

I was really headed towards the crosshatching, but upon further consideration, I'm going to cogitate on the feathers idea. Besides loving feathers and seeing how they look so good from your drawing on the photo, if I did hand-quilted meandering feathers, that would be possibly more conducive to my desire to take the work in progress with me on trips.

Yes, I will definitely continue thinking about your feathers idea.....

Teddie

Yes, Teddie, it's definitely a 4-patch. Your quilting will depend on several things. I assume that you are just wanting to have a finished quilt instead of a top, but probably don't want to put an inordinate amount of time into it. You can either quilt it by had or by machine. Your mom's suggestion would certainly work.

You could also just do a cross-hatching grid going from corner to corner of each square. It could be done with every row, or every other row, or even farther apart depending on the batting you will be using. That may be the most traditional way to quilt it.




If you are doing it by machine, and are comfortable quilting free-hand feathers, you could do Meandering Magic on it. It's not quite as traditional as the cross-hatching, but will help to minimize the casual piecing. http://shop.knotsandbolts.com/products/Meandering_Magic_by_Suzanne_Earley-559-0.html

I would cross-hatch it. I have a wavy stitch on my machine and I would use that. The lines won't bring attention to the construction since they would be wavy.

My great-great aunt made this quilt top when she was in the early stages of Alzheimers and blind in one eye. I only bring that up to justify my saying that the workmanship (workwomanship? is poor. Thus, I want to use an easy pattern to hand quilt it.

The squares are 2 1/4 inch. Which brings me to another question. What is the exact name of the pattern? I've been calling it a 4 patch.

Ok, I my thought was to quilt it with 1" or 1 1/2" or 2" on-point rows -- crosshatch I guess you'd call it -- and will hand quilt it.

My mom (the grand niece) suggested just vertical and horizontal rows about a quarter inch off one side of the blocks only.

I would LOVE some more suggestions. Just remember, the sewing is poor. In fact, it was done by machine and the seams have no rhyme nor reason on whch way to press.

Thank you for all your help and ideas!