Basting a Quilt from a Wall

Hello everyone, we're already in February and winter is rolling away fast in southern Ontario. Winter here is ridiculously mild with not much snow if I compared those to the long and cold northerners winters we've experienced in the past. I will not complain though, except we missed the sunny-snowy days.

My week tends to rush faster when I'm working or activities with our church family. So being organized through my journal/planner has helped me to attain small goals each week. I've mixed my notebook with journaling, notetaking, and planning which I've personalized to my need. It gives me satisfaction and joy to see each page filled with a new project I intake or simply marking off those that are done. How do you organize your week?

Be My Neighbour Quilt

Moda has offered a free block of the week program called Be My Neighbor Pattern Club in 2016. I've done this quilt with a group of quilters in and I've already posted pictures of these quilts in a previous post. This post is to share my weekly progress with each quilt I'm presently working on and to encourage others to do the same with their own quilts.

This quilt was pinned on my wall since last Fall for a few good reasons.

1. Brainstormed quilting designs.
2. Force the desire to finish it.
3. Draw the visitor's attention. Yep, that one counts too.
4. Patiently draw a design on paper BEFORE quilting it.
5. Learn to be patient. Yes, that too :)

How to Quilt it

In 2019 I subscribed to Leah's Quilting Friends Club which has a tutorial on How do I Quilt This? I learned each month how to draw a filler or linear patterns for my own top quilt BEFORE I quilted it. It was very insightful to see how other quilts could be designed too. It was a learning curve for me to slow down and draw my fillers on paper BEFORE quilting. In fact, I rather go quilt right away, no planning and vrum, vrum, vrum with my sewing machine. But this also thought me to plan ahead and it has really saved me time and saved my frustration with the same type of design I seemed to be stuck with.

That is the same thing with my life, I learned to slow down and enjoy what I was doing. Rushing through everything doesn't give satisfaction, joy and peace. Only filling your schedule with checkmarks and by the end of the day, guess what, you realized you'll be this same process all over the next day. So why not giving yourself a slower pace and add fun to what you're creating.

PICTURE TIME!

Take pictures of your quilt when you've it on your wall, then download it on your computer. Crop any background that doesn't need to be there and adjust the clarity of the picture. Print at less two-three. These are for you to practice your drawing design BEFORE you quilt it.

I'm seeing more and more quilters using fabric from their stash for the backing of a quilt. It will save you a great deal of money if you've many top-quilt to finish. This, of course, is a good plan if your quilt doesn't go in a quilt show. I used EQ8 software to design a very simple layout for the backing.
The strips are either 10" or 12" wide to make for the size of the top.
 

BASTING FROM THE WALL?

 Backing Pinned to Design Wall

This is my first attempt at basting a large quilt directly from my wall with 505 basting spray.
First I pinned my backing to my design wall and made sure it was straight.

  Then I cut a piece of batting just a bit larger than my front. At least an extra 4 inches each side.

 It was warm and sunny last Monday and the perfect time to spray the batting outside.

After the batting was sprayed, I set it on the backing and added the front quilt. With my hands, I gently patted the wrinkles out, from the center to the edges and will do it again over my large dining table before pressing it. All those steps are worth the effort as the will diminish the chance of having puckers forming in the back.

Last thought: I'm still frustrated with the poor quality of my pictures I'm taking in this house, but again it has been cloudy and grew all January till now.

Leah's Quilting Friends Club
https://www.quiltfriends.club/feed

Moda Be My Neighbor 2016
https://bearcreekquiltingcompany.com/moda-be-my-neighbor-2016/