Thanks! There are a lot of links there to chase down and go through. That will keep me busy for a while, LOL.

If doing the quilting of the assembled layers with a treadle machine is going to be too much for it, I suppose that's not too bad. I can do that by hand. My wife (a quilt collector, though not a quilter herself) says it's supposed to be done by hand anyway, for tradition's sake. I've been looking at all the quilts she has to see how the hand-stitching was done, and for what I want to do with just straight stitches along the edges of the sashing, I could probably handle that with a needle and thread.

I should mention, though, that I recently saw a video of an XMTS member (IsaacW) with an antique treadle machine, using it to stitch through the rise area of a kilt. With all the layers of pleated tartan, plus interfacing, it was plowing right through it at high speed. I will just have to experiment with layers and see how much mine can handle.

I'm just hoping that the machine can at least handle the assembling of all the blocks on the top. I'm not doing any fancy patterns or shapes. Just squares of tartan with sashing strips between, so it should never have to punch through more than two layers. I'm wanting this to be a fairly rudimentary, practical patchwork blanket with no frills or decorative touches. So if the treadle machine can sew through two layers of 16-18oz wool to put the top together, it will save me many hours of handwork and give me straighter lines in the assembly.

Off to read some websites...