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Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Quilting Week Six: We're Quilting, We're Really Quilting!

We made it to Week Six, but I've got a few confessions to make:
  • My quilt is far from perfect. None of my squares really match up evenly. My girlfriend told me what I did wrong. I pressed all my seams the same way. Apparently you need to alternate pressing rows. For example, the seams on the first row should be pressed to the right. The next row should be pressed to the left. And so on. Lesson learned!
  • Even though I'm showing you how to quilt today, I'm not done with mine. Nope.
  • This might be the last quilt I "quilt". I think I'll stick to the fun part, which is making the quilt tops. Next time I think I'll send it out to a professional. I'm glad I'm doing it, but it's a lot of work!

Okay, so let's baste the quilt!

1. Make sure your floor is clean and lay your back fabric down. You want it nice and tight, but not stretched tight. Use duct tape to tape it down.
2. Lay your batting down. I used a pre-packaged queen size batting. Starting in the center, smooth it out working toward the edges. It will still look wrinkly and puckered, but that's okay.
3. Using the directions on the can, spray your basting spray over the batting. Carefully lay your quilt top down on top, and working from the center agian, smoothe out the fabric to the edges.

4. I used curved safety pins to adhere all the layers together. You should pin every 4" to 6". I'm aware the basting spray AND pins aren't necessary, but it made me feel "safer".

5. Remove the tape and cut off the excess batting, leaving a few inches on.


6. Using a straight edge and a chalk marking pencil, I drew straight lines all the way around the border. (Be sure to use water to remove the marks before any pressing!)

7. Use a straight stitch to quilt all the straight lines.


8. Using a straight stitch, sew around each heart.
Because of the imperfections I mentioned earlier, I decided to go with a decorative stitch when quilting the squares. I know a lot of people would "stitch in the ditch" along all these lines, but I am a glutton for punishment!:)

My goal is to finish the quilt this week, and then we'll bind it.
I can't wait to wash it and see the finished product!

4 comments:

Kim's Treasures said...

Thank you for the square lining up tip! I need to pass that along to my daughter too! This week 6 has been very helpful as I'm about to quilt my first quilt! (Hopefully before the end of fall...soooo much on my to do list!)

Debilou ~ Mississippi Mama said...

I'm not quilting along this time, but i've been following and cant wait to see it quilted and binded. Hearts are my favorite. I definitely want to do this one day. Perfect or not,, thanks for sharing

Quiltpiecer said...

NOW I remember why I was SO happy when my DH bought me the quilting frame! It's been a long time since I've been on my hands-and-knees to sandwich a quilt ... and all those little pins. Ugh! I'm really tempted to throw this top on the frame and just do an all-over stitch ... well, we'll see next week what I end up doing! Thank you so much for all your hard work on this!

mysteryhistorymom said...

Lovely! You have me inspired! I especially love how you used your little one's clothes- so special! Lori