2. I can probably teach truckers some new 4 letter words.
3. I am thankful for my spray adhesive. If I was using pins, I likely would have used them to poke my eyes out.
4. If you have a lot of squares on your quilt top, don't be a dumb a*# and put a bunch of squares and lines on the quilt back, because it is not going to line up.
5. I don't know how to cut and measure batting. Or cut a straight line with scissors.
6. I am lucky to have a husband who takes my abuse while he holds a quilt corner for 2 hours (sorry, Honey).
7. Said husband came up with the brilliant idea of using dumbbells to help hold down corners! Worked great! May as well use them for something :-)
Limping along to the next phase- quilting. While I originally had planned to quilt diagonal lines, I can assure you there will be no more attempts at straight anything on this quilt- definitely going with stippling. Hopefully this will be uneventful. I will spare you my moaning and groaning and just show you the finished product.
18 comments:
A long-arm quilter will indeed take care of basting your quilt as well as quilting it. Have I mentioned that I, too, detest basting? The spray is the least painful method, but winter in Vancouver means I can't do it outside so no go.
i hope you have fun with the quilting, at least!
I'm with you - basting schmasting. And straight-line, schmaight-line for that matter. I'm suffering my own basting/quilting extravaganza this weekend, and I'm knocked up so spray is not an option right now. NO fun at all.
Dumbells at the corners! Great idea! We've got some that are collecting dust as well. : ) Your husband sounds wonderful, BTW.
I just finished a quilt, and instead of basting I used a yarn needle to put little strings of yarn through all 3 layers between each square to keep it all from shifting. Yes, I did it because I'm super lazy, and a family friend always makes blankets and quilts that way and I think it's darling.
But honestly, my quilt looks like crap and what I hate more than basting is seam/blanket binding. For some reason I'm terrible at doing it with straight lines and no gaps. Ugh.
Loved this post - made me laugh out loud, given that I totally relate! Thanks for the giggle :)
Michelle
NZ
what a beautiful looking quilt - love the dumbell too ;)
As a new quilter who basted her 1st baby quilt last week it's such a relief to see that experienced people don't find it easy peasy! Sometimes you can get overwhelmed looking at amazing quilts on blogs so thanks for your post, it made me smile and also feel better that I could not get my quilt back and front totally in line! Plus, I just adore this quilt, it's fab to see something boyish that's not for a toddler boy!
I'm feeling really dense for not thinking of dumbbells before - what a great use for them!! And I agree, I'm sure you could teach truckers a few new vocabulary words ;) Glad to hear you're done basting, I know I always dread that part of quilting. Onward!
Almost as funny as me ;-)
Pardon me while I laugh with you! It's not my favorite step either. I end up spending so much time on it because I don't want to do it twice. I hope the quilting is more enjoyable for you!
I always use painters tape to tape down my backing since I don't have a patient husband that would hold it for 2 hours! I start on one end and tape the middle (using about 6 in. of tape) then the opposite middle. Then I tape the middle on one side then the opposite side. Then I continue top,bottom, side, side until I have taped all the way around. This way it is taped evenly. It takes a bit of time but then the rest is super easy. I hope this makes sense.
Haha! You sound JUST like me!! I will be doing the basting bit this evening, once my hubs is home to help me move furniture. Basting is my very least favorite part of the quilt-making process, though without the spray, I don't think I'd ever finish a quilt on my own.
EVER.
Happy stippling--you're in good company this weekend!
I had a similar disaster when I spray-basted my first quilt back in October. And yes, my husband helped as well. And we also spent about 2 hours trying to get it right. It was a nightmare, I was thinking about using pins next time but I know it'll take much longer to quilt. So I don't know what to do now. I guess just keep making quilt tops and never finishing them (just kidding).
I absolutely LOVE this post....so funny. Thanks.
I use the same technique w/ painter's tape as Patty described above. All I need to do is tape down the back, and I use the wood floor boards to help line up & be straight. Then smooth out the batting, and for the top, I roll it up, line up one edge, then unroll smoothing as I go. I use the curved safety pins to baste, which takes a while. Start at the center and work out. I read that Warm&Natural batting has a little bit of adhesive to help be very slightly stick - not sure if this is true. I tried the spray once, and yeah it was faster, but it's soooo expensive, plus another chemical sprayed in the house? No thanks, I'll keep pinning until my knees give out. Plus with pins, you can leave your project hanging around for a while. The spray will start to deteriorate as the batting soaks it up.
p.s. I didn't mention the part about shoving the dining room furniture around & not letting anyone walk through.
I do something similar to what patty was describing. We have carpeted floors so it's a little easier? maybe not. I usually lay out my backing fabric and tape down across the corners of the backing so that it is a little stretched. Then I lay out my batting (I'm not really sure how to cut this either... I usually lay mine on top and use a yardstick and marker to draw a line a few inches from my quilt backing then cut). I tape down the batting too the same way. For larger quilts I add a bit of tape on the middle of each edge to keep it from moving. Then I lay out the quilt top and tape that down too. Then I pin. I hate it but I'm pretty sure I'd be allergic to the basting spray (does it give you an ingredients list?). Warm and Natural brand does have a small percentage of (12.5%) polypropylene which is a plastic like stabalizer... it may help it stick who knows?!
I'm a big fan of the blue painters tape too!
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