It's hard to get things to meet up well with flannel. It's bulkier than regular quilting cotton. If it's all squares, I'm not sure it even matters once it's washed.

Generally you quilt in different directions as you thought. Flannel creeps a bit so pins help. In some cases you might even do better with seams pressed open but I'd suggest you make a few small sample blocks and play around with it before tackling something bigger. It just takes practice.

You'll do fine. Remember it's your hand work and it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks unless you are entering it into a big, judged quilt show. It will be appreciated regardless.

Thank you Toolgranny; your comments are appreciated. :)

you might want to try using a basting spray to help keep the layers from shifting on you. I normally use quilting pins but with my last quilt I used basting spray and golly did it not only save a lot of time on my hands and knees putting quilting pins in, it saved time taking them out...This was a full size quilt and even with a lot of ratting it around during the quilting process it stayed together, not one single bit of the layers shifting. I didn't use a lot, just sprayed lightly.

I'm very new to quilting, too, kim0 ...the folks on this forum are awesome!!!! one of the best suggestions for me has been to take a couple of online 'classes'...some are free and some you actually can buy. (the first one I bought was about my walking foot, and WOW...did that ever help me! watch tutorials whenever you can, too!

Sounds like you made the right decisions about quilting directions; I'm sure it was the flannel that made the fabric pull a little. It's not as easy to work with as regular quilting cottons, no matter how much experience you have. Like others have said, I'm sure it's lovely and soft and will be much appreciated!

Don't worry about your points matching up. That comes with practice. I have found that matching points are much more important to the person who did the sewing than they are to the person using the quilt!

If you do try the basting spray, heed the advice to use it lightly! I have only used it once and my quilt ended up being a wrinkly mess but others here have been very successful with it. It was one of my first quilts and although I don't remember exactly how I used it, I'm guessing I just applied way too much.

Kate

I agree with the others.. do not worry about your points not matching up, that will come with practice. I like a lot of site's on Facebook and look at a lot of photos of quilts there and on Pinterest... if you look close you will see very few of them that are "perfect" with either the piecing or quilting... My two favorite facebook pages and web sites are Missouri Star Quilt Company, Fat Quarter Shop. Take a look at them if you are on Facebook or visit their web sites. They also have a lot of very helpful video's on uTube...

You'd be amazed to see all the mismatched joints on quilts that are photographed for the quilt magazines! If you ever get a chance, browse some magazines and look carefully. Even those that are in magazines have little 'errors'. Makes me feel that much better about my own work!

Thank you everyone for the encouragement. I appreciate your suggestions and I will look at quilts more closely online. I do enjoy the Missouri Star Quilt Co and watch her tutorials regularly. I think I will put flannel aside for a while and stick with more cottons. (It is wonderfully soft tho for baby quilt backs). I bound the quilt with flannel all by machine and was less than pleased with way the back side of the binding turned out. It was difficult to miter the corners and even with pinning, things aren't as straight as I would like.

More practice is needed and I'm sure to tell the new mamas that these are meant to be used and are not heirloom type quilts. I thank them for letting me practice my quilts on their babies and they have all smiled and been pleased. :)

Thanks again everyone!