Basting....Boring Basting!

I will admit it - I do not enjoy basting a quilt to ready it for quilting. I have used pins, one of those plastic tagger gizmos and basting with thread over the years and not found any that was not BORING! It is time consuming too but thank goodness for the TV in the room where I baste. I watched the last Harry Potter movie this afternoon which help pass the time some.

In the photo above I have everything ready to start basting. I use the method demonstrated by Sharon Schamber in one of her free videos on this web page. Sharon's video is full of details and you can really see what she is doing. Of all the different ways I have tired basting, I find this the easiest for me. The method uses two boards, one you roll the backing onto and the other you roll the quilt top. Only a small portion of the quilt sandwich is basted at a time as you can see on the photo below. I have this section about 2/3 bastedd

The basting stitch looks like the padding stitch used in tailoring but is much larger of course. This diagonal basting holds better than straight line basting - the layers don't shift as much. These lines are about 2 1/2" apart and the stitches are about 1 1/2" to 2" long with a bite into the sandwich of about 1/2".

I guess another thing I don't like about basting is that my fingers get so sore after pulling the large needle through the fabric so many times.

Guess my break is over....back to that basting.....stitch, stitch, stitch.

Lynn

Basting Thread

Here is the thread I use for basting quilts. It is crochet cotton and looking at the label on the inside of the cone it says it is size 20. I don't remember what I used this thread for originally but it works great for basting. At one time I did do crocheting but nothing too complicated but did make my oldest daughter a pink and white crocheted dress when she was about 9 months old. That was about 35 years ago though...time flies you know.

I dug it out when looking for some type of heavier thread for basting years ago. I have been using it for years and there is still a lot left on the cone. Look at the label, it had 1600 yards to begin with and I am thinking maybe I never used it for crocheting.

Lynn

Split Nine Patch...Backing Pieced

To jog your memories here is the Split Nine Patch quilt I finished piecing a couple of weeks ago. It is approximately 54" x 66". Some of you may not be able to figure out where the blocks are in the quilt so have posted an EQ6 drawing of what the block looks like.

Each section of the block is 2" (finished size) making the blocks 6" finished. I decided to piece my blocks like this but I have seen this block with the center square made up of half square triangles too with half dark and half light fabrics. If you piece the blocks with the extra half square triangle you get more precise diagonal lines where my look a little jagged which is the look I prefer. (Actually if you really want to know the truth - I just didn't want to piece any more half square triangles!)

I did show you a tentative layout of the fabrics I would piece for the back of the quilt a while ago. It did look like everything would fit together but there was a gap so had to change my plan. The backing is now pieced together and needs to be squared up a little before I baste the top and batting to it.

To keep you all from eye strain trying to figure out what that light print towards the upper left is I have taken a photo of it so you can get a closer view. Yes, it is fabric with hippopotamus on it! I purchased about a half a yard probably 20 years ago and never used it. The colors go with the other fabrics I chose for the back so it is getting used here. A little different style of fabric from the rest of the backing fabrics but who cares - I like it and that is what counts.

Before any of you ask why all the different fabrics I will tell you. I have no larger pieces to chose from for this backing and want to rid myself of all these older fabrics. Since this will be machine quilted all those seams won't matter so why not is what I say.

Mystery Update.....I do have the project for my friend done so will post about it when I get the OK from her. It turned out wonderful!

Until Later,
Lynn

Atlanta Trip

John and I had a great time while we were in Atlanta for his convention. He is on a board of a rural electric public power company and was attending the national convention. While he was in meetings I attended a few of the speaker sessions they had for spouses. One presenter I enjoyed was Charlotte Stallings who's talk was titled "Today Doesn't Dictate Your Tomorrow." She told us all things which most of us know but forget at times so it was good to be reminded. Another session I enjoyed was presented by Michael Benidt and Sheryl Kay of Golden Compass. I took lots of notes during their presentation titled "Hidden Treasures of the Internet:Get More Efficient With Your Time Online." They gave lots of hints for using Google more efficiently, etc. They do have a blog which I am reading now and you can find the link to it on their website.

Along with all the meetings John had to attend we also got to attend the concert put on by the group Sawyer Brown. We had wonderful seats - were 7 rows from the front and center of the seating. The group is energetic and have been together for many years - Mark Miller being a great lead vocalist. They won the Star Search TV talent contest in 1983, a forerunner to American Idol and the other TV talent contests now. The concert was wonderful!

After the meetings were over we had time to tour part of a day before our plane left the next day. We toured CNN first. It was a very interesting tour and learned a lot about live TV news broadcasting.

The Atlanta Aquarium was next on the list - lots of fish to look at including the very large Whale Sharks.

A photo of my friend Sue and I at the Aquarium. Was nice to have another couple we knew at the convention. We had a great time sightseeing and of course eating out in the evenings.

Atlanta is the headquarters for the Coca-Cola company so took in that tour too. At the end of the tour we could taste about 48 different kinds of Coke products from around the world. Some were good, some OK, and some were just awful! Outside the building the trash cans are even shaped like Coca-Cola bottles - of course John and I had to pose for a photo beside one.

Of course we had to eat out and chose restaurants different than what we can find here in Nebraska, especially rural Nebraska. We enjoyed eating at an Irish Pub - mmm wonderful corned beef and cabbage and at a southern style restaurant where I had a fried chicken meal and pot licker appetizer. If I understood correctly it is a soup/broth like concoction of turnip greens, pork rind cooked in broth and served with corn bread that you crumble up into it before you eat it. It was certainly yummy!

We had a great trip there and back and have now been home for a week trying to still catch up on everything. The only regret I have is that the temperature was not warmer when we were there. We have had such cold, cold temperatures here at home I wanted just a few days of milder weather....oh well, we still had fun.

By the way it is warmer here today - at 2:30 it was up to 43 degrees so some of the snow is melting a little. Still have a lot to go though.

Lynn