Hanging out at Quilt Class 101

The lovely Bec from Chasing Cottons has invited me over to do a guest post on my unusual Dumbbell spray basting method in her Quilt Class 101 series.

Have you checked out Quilt Class 101 yet? Each week Bec posts some awesome tutorials and pointers about each step in the quilting process. A great resource whether you are new to quilting or want to learn some new tricks! Go swing by and say hello :-)

WIP Wednesday

Basted!

Top: Nicey Jane New Wave quilt
Middle: fundraiser tree quilt
Bottom: Postage stamp quilt

Quilting time! Pounding it out! It's gonna be ~cRAzy~!!!! Whoop whoop!!!

Ahem. Better back off on the caffeine, eh?

What are you up to this week? Get your nose in everyone else's business at Lee's WIP Wednesday link up ;)

What I learned basting a quilt on a Friday night

1. NOT a fan of basting (though technically this is not new information). I need to find a local longarm quilter who will baste for me...is that how it works??
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.

Firsts

This past week I have tried some new things. Scary, right? But sometimes you just have to take the plunge out of your comfort zone.
I took some of your excellent advice and found me some 505 spray adhesive, and gave spray basting a try. Thumbs up! Love it.

I also tried my hand at free motion quilting for the first time (excluding the puckered fiasco). The basting worked great! Not a pucker to be found! My stitch length is all over the map, but in time I am hoping that will improve. I have to keep reminding myself that I am not a professional, and I don't sell my stuff, it is given as gifts- who is going to scrutinize free stuff? It generally looks good from afar :-)

I think I can really get into the free motion, especially the stippling. The random thing would really work for me, seeing as I can't sew a straight line to save my life. Seriously. Which brings me to my next "first"- I decided to try some hand quilting. I am doing it on a strip quilt in addition to machine quilting, and it seems that following a seam at 1/4 inch is too complicated for me. Do I lose concentration? Do I have mini-seizures I am not aware of? I don't know, but I stood back and looked at the progress on this one today and my lines are wandering all over. No channel quilting for this girl! I know I have written about drinking and sewing in the past, but I swear I was not under the influence! Again, best admired from a distance!

Lastly, I picked up some wools and suiting and have a new sewing project in mind using these: In my mind, this project will be fabulous....let's just see how it turns out in Real Life, shall we?

I have a bunch of things in various stages of finishing, and hope to have something to show you soon :-) Also, still a couple tutorials on their way, as promised!

Happy Tuesday!