Oops

Funny the things you notice when you are basting. Several times I have found the same fabric side by side. When it's the cream fabric you hardly even notice. When it's a patterned fabric it isn't too bad if the pieces looks dis-similar (e.g. another portion of the fabric pattern).

Then you get this...


which I couldn't help but notice. It played on my mind for over a week. Do I remove it or not? After talking to wise council :) I decided to remove the offending piece and replace it with another fabric. I am much happier now.

The basting still continues.

Singer 201K

Today I collected my "new" Singer 201K. I am so excited, tired but very excited. It was an 8 hour drive on a hot day.

The machine is in excellent condition. The cabinet needs a little bit of work, as there are a few borer holes in it.

Here she is:



She has been very well loved.

On the Basting Table

I've talked about my basting approach in a previous blog. So now I'm about to embark on my largest quilt using this method.

Here's the quilt top about to be rolled onto its wooden slat. The top had been pressed before doing this. There are so many seams in this, that it is really important to make sure everything is laying the way it should.


I have already rolled the backing onto its slat. The backing was also ironed before being put on the slat. In this photo I have partially rolled the backing out. The right side is down. The wrong side is facing up. You can very subtly see the floral pattern on this fabric. (Hmmm okay, maybe too subtle).


Now it's time to put the batting on top and smooth it out. The day before I opened out the batting to allow it to rest. I read somewhere that resting the batting minimizes the amount of shrinkage. Not sure if that is true or not, but doesn't hurt to give it a go.


Next comes the quilt top. I've centered it over the top of the backing and batting. This makes sure that there is enough wiggle room - I don't want to baste 3 quarters of the top this and find out that I'm short an inch of batting! I also smooth out the top. So far so good.


Here are the tools I will be using to do the basting. A cutting mat, this goes underneath so that the needle doesn't damage my dining room table. Thread, scissors and a large sturdy needle.


The cutting mat has been placed underneath. I've "marked" the border of the mat with the scissor and thread - this ensures I know my boundaries.


Herringbone stitch is underway. I chose to start from the bottom and work my way up.


As I am basting, I'm finding a few gems that I didn't see earlier. For example the little bird in the blue fabric. I had thought all my fabric was floral. How sweet to see this surprise.


I have completed a whole section under the cutting mat. It's coming along well.


Now that the whole horizontal section has been finished, I need to move my work forward, in preparation for basting the next horizontal section.


I've moved the batting forward to assist with the rolling of the backing.


The backing has been rolled out and smoothed.


Batting has been moved to the back again. I've also smoothed the batting out as well.


Now the top has been rolled out as well. Again this has been smoothed out. I spend a lot of time smoothing each layer to ensure everything is really flat. If you don't do this it does have an impact on the finished quilt.


Normally basting a project is done within a weekend. This one is much larger and is taking a lot of time. On the positive side - no sore back, knees or shoulders.

Time to reflect on my yo-yo project. I pull this project out from time to time when I need something mindless to work on.

I always get briefly inspired, then deflated when I think of how much there is to do. You will notice that I am grouping yo-yos into 9 patches. My project requires 221 9 patches. Yes 221!!!

I've done 62 so far *sigh*. I never expected that this project would require so much fabric. If I bought new fabric for this (5" charm squares), it would cost an extra $400 (NZD)! I think that is just plain crazy! So once again, this goes on the back burner, and into the 5 - 10 year plan.