I put in the dining table leaf and then hoisted the table up onto 9" bed risers. I was ready to quit for the day after that, but I soldiered on. I pressed the background and batting right on the table, no harm to the surface, and then lay the top on and smoothed it out, and then pressed with the iron again. The table was high enough to stand and work, but after a while I rolled my studio chair up to the table and sat while I basted.
This was like riding a bike. I haven't basted a quilt this size in eons, but it all came back to me. Instead of pinning, I chose to hand baste. Sounds like more work? Maybe, but then no sticking or unsticking of pins as I quilt along, which won't begin until Thursday. Knitting on Wednesday as per usual.
A self threading needle made it easy on these mature eyes, so I needn't stop and struggle to thread the needle.I took my time basting making it possible to take frequent breaks to walk out in the glorious warm sunshine. The hoards of goldfish and pondies are up on the water's surface so Spring can't be far away.
No dawg...FISH
OOOOOOOOOO Spring!!
ReplyDeleteHand basting. The joy in it for me is when I get to take it out section by section and really appreciate the work I've done :)
ReplyDeleteGreat project!
Maybe my most unfavorite part, sandwiching the quilt. Of course, it's gotta be done. I do it the same as you except I do it on my sewing table with the machine pushed down. I can't imagine ever having done that on my hands and knees -- ouch!!! That is one yummy pinkerful cotton candy quilt!
ReplyDeleteI hand baste too - hate those pins!!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a girly quilt - I love it.
Basting isn't my favorite part of making a quilt, but I've found that it's quicker and easier to use a "doll needle" that's four or five inches long. You can get lots of stitches done at a time. They're available at Jo Ann's and Hancock. I haven't had problems with them making holes in the fabric, even though they're larger in diameter than most needles. They're also very easy to thread, even for those of us with older eyes!
ReplyDeleteI use the dining room table for basting---I can't believe that I ever managed to use the floor. That stopped about 15 years ago. (If I ever did manage to get down there now, it would be a long time before I would be able to get up...:-)
What a wonderful pink quilt! How are you going to quilt it?
I bought a ton of pins to do my quilts, but now I an thinking, maybe I should just baste them as well...........we will see.
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous photo of the fish. The colors are fabulous. They're getting so big. It'll be fun to watch them this summer, too!
ReplyDeleteFishies! LOVE the fishies!
ReplyDeleteI always heard: hand-baste in preparation for hand-quilting, and pin for machine-quilting. The rationale being that because machine-quilting is faster and done in bigger sweeps (if you know what I mean), you're more likely to 'trap' a basting thread (grrr) while machine quilting. Not sure the logic holds, but there it is.
I'd much rather baste than pin, but then, I do a lot of hand-quilting, too.
Can't wait to see what you decide on for quilting! As always, I admire your colour boldness.
Am I the only one who uses fabric spray adhesive?? I hand quilt exclusively and never baste! It takes 3 of us to do the sandwiching on the floor and is a miserable task, but I love the way it holds in place for months of handwork.
ReplyDeleteYour quilt is beautiful!
How do you get the needle back to the top of the quilt sandwich when basting? A hand under it? A curved needle? Thanks for any help!
ReplyDeleteMaggie in AZ