I am making my first quilt, Baking Days. Probably not an easy one to start with, but that is the one the 3 day class is making, 6 hours total! (I may set this aside and find something easier). I am on the first block and realized I am using Glaced cotton! I will change to 100% quilting machine cotton, is this correct? Should I discard the first block and start over? Also I am using all flannel material on top. What material do you suggest I use on the back? It is for my son and will take a beating. Any suggestions will be appreciated:

I’m not sure what “glaced” cotton thread is but if it is cotton, it should be ok. You should use 50 weight sewing cotton for the construction of your quilt, something like Coats or Mettler. Quilting thread is what we use to do the actual quilting of the three layers of our quilt. Your quilt will be nice and cozy made in flannel. I would have recommended cotton rather than flannel for your first quilt because I think it is a little easier to work with, but I think you can make it work. Flannel is just a little bit thicker and sometimes stretches a bit. Because flannel IS so cozy, it would be great to have on the back too. I hope this helps. Maybe you would post a photo on our website when you are finished. Just go to the “share your quilt” button. Good luck with your project!

It seems that my quilts with ‘cotton’ batting have more prominent creases from being folded, than my other quilts:

See my “quilt care” section for ideas, but in a nutshell, refold your quilts often so the crease does not have time to ‘set’. If possible, store quilts rolled up over a cotton covered tube, or lay on a spare bed. You can layer many quilts on the bed, and cover with muslin to protect from dust and light – rotating the top one would also be a good idea!

My edges are wavy:

Sometimes the borders are too long. To correct this, you must measure vertically through the centre of the quilt, then cut the two side borders that exact same length. Pin the centre, the ends and in between and ease the edges of the quilt to fit. Follow the same procedure for the horizontal measurement. This keeps your quilt square. However, the edges can still get wavy if you apply your binding incorrectly. As you sew the binding onto the quilt, pull the loose end of the binding snug. This will ease in some of the fullness at the edge of the quilt.

My squares don’t line up properly:

When sewing rows of squares together, press the seams on one row to the left and the seams on the next row to the right. Now pin each junction with the seams “butting up” to each other, instead of on top of each other.

When I am shopping and see some fabric I love, how much should I buy?

It’s difficult to know how much to buy when you don’t have a project in mind. When I really love a fabric – which is often – I usually get three yards/meters. That way I have enough to place some in the body of the quilt and enough for the borders.

I want to cut the binding 3″ wide, so that it will show up more. I read somewhere that the batting should fill the width of the binding, and that sounds good to me. I’m thinking that the easiest way to do that is to just do a 1/2 inch seam instead of 1/4 inch when attaching the binding. This does narrow the border by 1/4″ but I made the border bigger than I needed anyway. What do you think of the above method?

You can do your binding as you suggested for sure. The other method some people like to use is to cut their binding 3″ and sew it on with a 1/4″ seam allowance, stuff extra batting along the edge of the binding, fold over and stitch down. It makes a puffier more pronounced binding.