I spent the day thread basting my quilt. It took about 8 hours but it would have been faster if I did not have to cook two meals, keep the grandson out of the pins and machines. I also had my neighbor drop by for a visit but since she is a quilter that was okay we just gossiped.
You will note my thread basting is kind of close together…. two reasons… I only had a short needle and I stopped paying attention to spacing cause I was talking too much. Sharon Schamber’s YOU TUBE videos show spacing about 3 inches apart, but she uses different needles. I could only find my embroidery needles so my spacing is much closer together. As she has stated if you have applique elements in your project you can space closer together.
I also realized I should not have basted over my seam lines. I am taking CINDY NEEDHAM’s Craftsy class Design It, Quilt It: Free-Form Techniques. She said you have to stitch in the ditch EVERY STINKING SEAM! That same sentiment has been stated by RICKY TIMS in his DVDs, so I guess I will ANCHOR EVERY STINKING SEAM with stitch in the ditch.
The last picture I posted is of the back. I had done some thread painting instead of a label as I got kind of lazy I did not want to applique or piece a label into the back. I also think the label should be applied before quilting. I used a free form thread painting technique. My only regret, besides my sloppy handwriting, is that I did not use a good stabilizer. I used an iron pellon instead of my wash away stabilizer and it did not do a good job stabilizing. Live and learn.
Several years ago when I started getting interested in FREE MOTION QUILTING I watched all the YOU TUBE videos I could find. I found several by Sharon Schambers. I started using her method because I did not like putting my quilt sandwich on a bed or the floor. I could use my sewing table for most quilts and it was the perfect height. For really large quilts I go to the guild or a local sewing group and use their big tables. I figure if this method works for Sharon Schambers it will be good enough for me. I like not having to strain my back so I will keep using this method. I posted my links so you can see her video. YOU will notice I use a separate trim board for each layer. I think Sharon used only one set, but I found this the easiest method and all my layers come out nice, flat and well aligned.
My current baby quilt is now loaded and I will be hand basting it this weekend so I can start the free motion quilting. I use DMC embroidery cotton or a fine pearl cotton, usually in white. I have also heard of using WASHABLE THREAD for the basting the quilt and not removing the thread but I think that is a waste of expensive thread. Once I have the quilt top basted together I can free motion quilt and remove the thread as I go. I find that this type of basting keep the layers together and there are no puckers on the back of the quilt.
I will post updates of the quilt as I go along.
LONG TIME NO POST… just trying to get caught up on life. We are having new flooring place in the living room and I have put things into storage, given away a lot of STUFF! I have gotten very little sewing done. I took the evening off and finally got my baby quilt put together… it took forever because it stayed up on the design wall instead of being worked upon.
I did do a lot of mindless sewing in that I made over 500 NINE PATCHES… 3 inches in size. I started this quilt years ago and decided that since I could not do much else I could sew the nine patches. My strips were already cut out… I just had to sew them together. Boy the difference quilt classes and practicing good technique makes. The NINE PATCHES I made in 2005 and 2006 are totally wonky… Why because I did not know how to cut, press or sew accurately. But they are going in the quilt as is. This is a MAKE DO QUILT / FINISHING A UFO type project so if they are wonky… that is okay with me. The important thing about these blocks is they hold up together and do not fall apart .. if some are the wrong size I will compensate for the discrepancy in the next step when I assemble the rows. I will be blogging about this in the future.