I love cross-hatching and think that's a great way to begin! Doing it diagonally adds more character to the quilt than perpendicular to the edges. You could choose to move diagonally through the rectangles, or you could go diagonally from one corner of the quilt to the opposite corner. And you can space your lines as close together as you wish. Lines 3-4" apart will be a softer quilt than lines 1-2" apart.

After you sandwich your quilt, batting, backing, and pin well, I recommend taking blue painter's tape and lay it on your top along where you'd like your first line of stitching to go... You will stitch just along the edge of the tape. Start in the center of the quilt and work to the outside, then flip the quilt around and do it again.

Looks like a cute quilt! Way to go on your first!!!

I agree with Jennifer, and the painter's tape makes is much easier to space your lines. You can put several strips down, then remove every other one. The tape can be used several times before it loses it's sticky.

If you wanted a bit more texture, you could stitch in the ditch, then stitch every other rectangle with vertical rows, then the others with horizontal rows for a sort of woven effect.

beverly

Nice job on your first quilt! I agree with Jennifer and Bev on the quilting suggestions.

The first time I used blue painters tape as a guide I was too concerned with being very close to the tape and I accidentally sewed over the edge of the tape several times. This made it difficult to get the tape out of the quilt. It's not the end of the world if this happens to you, but my advice would be not to try to worry if you are not exactly right next to the tape. Use it as a guide. Good luck!

Thank you everyone!! I am so excited to get started! The painters tape is a fantastic idea, I think it will help with the whole straight line part :)

You've received great advice, it's a cute quilt...do post a pic when you finish so we can see your first!
V.

The great thing about tape is that you can move it around & try different things.

I didn't know about painter's tape, I used masking tape early on & now use a thin, white, 1/4" tape on a roll from my LQS. You can also move & re-use this tape several times w/out losing its stickiness.

Very nice quilt, can't tell from here it's your first. Pls. share an update when you're done.