Quilting a Checkerboard Tiles Block on a Home Machine

Our Checkerboard Tiles block is ready for quilting and after all that piecing, that’s quite an achievement! See how I am keeping the quilting design very simple with straight lines quilted on my Singer treadle machine:

Click here to find the pattern for the Checkerboard Tiles quilt block. The best thing about this Friendship Quilt Along is you can make the quilt exactly the size you need. Pick from crib, throw, twin, queen or king and make the corresponding number of blocks you need to make your quilt.

Click here to find all the Friendship Quilt Along tutorials I’ve shared so far.

Super Simple Quilting Design

After piecing over 300 tiny pieces together I had a feeling you guys needed a break. I certainly did!

I decided to quilt this block with Gridlines. As I laid my ruler over the block, I realized I could quilt diagonally and the lines would run through the middle of the square-in-a-square units and the scrappy cornerstones and hit seam joins in the border too.

I marked the lines with ¼-inch masking tape which helped me check the look of the design before quilting. I love how simple and easy this is to quilt and the subtle accent the quilting design adds to the piecing.

I love how easy I can see my quilting lines with this open toe walking foot.

Walking Foot Quilting on a Treadle Machine

I attached the open toe walking foot from the Deluxe Foot Set to my Singer 27 treadle. Did you know most singular treadle machines are low shank and compatible with modern feet?

I did struggle at the beginning to get a good stitch length on my machine. At first I thought it was user error and I was being too aggressive with feeding the quilt through the machine. I eventually found adjusting the presser foot pressure was the key (say that three times fast!)

Once I increased the pressure on the foot, my stitches began became much more consistent and my straight lines were straighter as well.

Be careful not to push against your quilt too hard when walking foot quilting. Let the machine and the foot do all the work!

I love quilting on this machine. It’s relaxing and a little bit more physical than just pressing an electric foot pedal. I got some speed going on a few lines and was amazed by how fast this machine could quilt!

Is this Quilting Design Too Simple?

This question usually crops up on complicated quilt blocks like Checkerboard Tiles. I don’t think straight lines are a bad choice for this block.

The patchwork is intense so you wouldn’t be able to see a more intricate quilting design. Anything extra you stitch in the blocks will get lost in all of the seam lines.

This design was very simple, and it perfectly accented this piecing design!

Worse, I think it would take away from the beautiful piecing if we cluttered it up with lots of quilting. That’s just my opinion, so please play around with this and see what you like best. Remember there is no right or wrong way to quilt any block or quilt!

Click here to find all the tutorials for the Friendship Quilt Along.

Don’t forget the easiest place to share pictures of your blocks and ask questions is the Quilt Friends Club. This club does have an additional membership fee to participated, and it’s not required to be apart of the Friendship Quilt Along.

Let’s go quilt,

Leah Day

More Videos on the Checkerboard Tile Block

• How to cut scrappy squares
• How to piece a checkerboard tiles block
• How to piece a square in a square unit