A Long Rambling Post About Quilting

 Disclaimer:  This post will likely bore everyone but the most die-hard sewing fanatics and my mother, who loves everything I write.

OK. Got that out of the way.  Now, I'm going to show you two of my new favorite things about quilting.  The first is this pieced quilt back.  Typically the quilt back is one piece of fabric, or a couple pieces of the same fabric seamed together out of necessity.  That works, especially if you want to keep things really simple, or you have a piece of fabric that you love for the back.  Recently, I pictured in my mind a quilt back made of nine fat quarters.  (That's a quilter's term for a quarter yard of fabric cut in a 18"X22" rectangle instead of a long 44"X9" strip.)  So I tried this method out on a quilt a few weeks ago and really liked the results.  Thus, I'm apt to make my quilt backs this way for who knows how long.  I love the interest it gives the back and it makes the quilt truly reversible.

 

On top of the back goes the batting, smoothed out nice and flat.  And here comes the other really cool, new part--the basting spray.

 

I'd heard this method works well and beats having to spend an hour pinning the layers together.  So yesterday I took my handy dandy 40% off coupon to Hobby Lobby and bought a can of the basting spray.  You just pull the batting back and lightly spray the backing.

Then smooth the batting back over the back, lifting and repositioning as needed.  Now flip to the other end.

I called in my trusty sheriff to guard me while I worked.  I recommend that you do the same if possible.  The top layer is done just the same way, only this time you're spraying the batting first.

After all the layers are in place, I mark the quilting lines on the quilt top with a washable marker.  A purist would do this before she layered the quilt.  Since there is nothing pure about the way I quilt, I will do it the way I want...being the rebel that I am.

Oh yeah.  Here is what the spray looks like up close and personal.  In case you want to hunt some down for yourself.  I have my machine all ready for quilting this baby now.

Normally, I sew on this beauty.  Say "Hi" to Bernie.  He and I have been best buds for 22 years.  He is celebrating his birthday this month so I wanted to give a big shout out to him.  He is a work horse and if he had an odometer, it would prove that he and I could have circled the globe a few times with all the stitches we've made.  He's never given me a minute's trouble.  Perfect stitches and tension.  If someone gave me a new, top of the line sewing machine, I'd give it to one of you.  That is how much I like my old faithful friend.  So why am I not quilting this on Bernie?  Simply because I don't want to do free motion quilting on this quilt.  I want to do straight line quilting which requires the use of a walking foot.  And the walking foot for Bernie costs more that $100. 

So...I have another great little machine, fully mechanical (no computer) for which I was able to buy a walking foot that only set me back $11.98.

That's why.

I bought this machine from my sister-in-law (Hi, Rochelle) when she upgraded to a new high-end machine.  It comes in handy to have two machines sometimes, especially if the girls want to tinker around on one while I'm on the other.  We really like Bernette, too.   Beautiful stitches and purrs like a kitten.

I go ahead and load at least three bobbins before I start, because machine quilting will really use up the thread.

The straight stitching went really fast.  I was very pleased with the spray method of basting this quilt.  It saved a lot of time not having to pin the quilt and stop to remove pins as I quilted. 

I had this whole thing quilted in no time flat.  Maybe an hour.  Probably more like 45 minutes.  I didn't time myself.

And that was even with helping Maggie do her grammar while I sewed.  She loves grammar.  She's learning about predicate adjectives and predicate nominatives.  And prepositions.  And all that fun stuff....

Mommy is sewing a quilt (on the machine) (in the sewing room.)

 Quilting finished, time to trim the excess batting and backing away.

 

Now the binding goes on and we're almost finished.  I take it to the ironing board and press and pin the binding down in preparation for hand stitching it in place on the back side.

Alas, you'll need to wait a few days to see the completed quilt. 

If you've made it this far, I commend you for your longsuffering.  And I promise to bring you tasty recipe soon.

Love,