Some time ago there was a thread on quilting only a third of a quilt at a time, and joining the batting as you go........

Has anyone had any expenience of this method, or remember the thread at all?

Thanks :D

This is done with the batting cut into three pieces and you quilt just the center first. Then you join the next piece of batting and quilt that portion. Eventually you have 100% of the quilt on you machine.

Have you used this method NP3, and is it easy...I mean easier?

I'm really trying to avoid the floor for sandwiching, and not looking forward to wrestling such a large quilt on my machine, seeing it's not FMQ I'm doing.

Thanks :-)

You would quilt 3 separate quilts to within 1/2 inch from where they are to be joined. After all the sections are quilted, you join them together and use a sashing strip to hide the seam on the back. Search Quilt as You Go for a block by block style or even Quilting in Sections and you should find examples of what it looks like. You only have the entire quilt on the machine when you are putting the sections together and of course putting the binding on.

Sharon Pederson & pair of ladies I forgot the names of did episodes on Simply Quilts years ago and I'm sure there are others. Check YouTube for videos.

I have quilted block by block which is very similar to the quilting in sections & it was very easy. I quilted each block and then used sashing front & back to put them together row by row. It was a lot of hand sewing on the back to finish but if you use a matching thread color, you could probably machine finish it easily enough. I was a new quilter at the time so I followed the directions I had seen.

The method she is refering to is not the quilt as you go method. You make the full quilt and then do the batting in thirds. I'll search for the tute on it.

It is easier when you do the middle section. The last section is just as bulky. The key is having a really big work space. The method lessens the amount of quilt rolled up in the throat of your machine.

I think that is the method I saw the pair of ladies doing on Simply Quilts. I was using a machine with a 6" harp at the time so that method wouldn't have worked very well. I have a larger machine now but I still prefer quilting in sections over adding the batting. I do agree that having your machine setup in the center of a long table & possibly even turning it like a longarm to do free motion quilting would help tremendously with any quilt larger than crib size and even crib size is a problem if you have arthritis in your neck or shoulders.

Check out this website for basting a quilt. I have several large quilts that I haven't finished because I can't get on the floor and do the conventional basting. I intend to try this as soon as I get my backing. Kathy

http://www.sharonschambernetwork.com...Quilt.aspxneg.

Prism99 suggested this and I did it on my avatar Steeler picture.

You can also split the quilt into 3 parts (without the division showing later) to make the bulk easier to handle. To do this, you layer the sandwich as usual, pin back a third of the top and backing fabric so it is out of the way, then cut the batting only in large S-shaped curves. Mark both sides of the cut so it is easy to reposition the two pieces later. (The curving cutting line helps with the repositioning later and also hides the join.) Pin the top to the backing fabric. Do the other side of the quilt the same. Machine quilt the middle section, leaving a good 4 inches or so free near the cut edges. When the middle is done, re-attach one side of the batting with hand tailor tacks (or some people do it with a long and wide machine zigzag) and re-position the top and backing over that section. Complete the machine quilting on that side. Repeat with the other side. Marti Michel has a book on how to do this, but I first saw this process described in detail in another book by another quilter (whose name escapes me at the moment).

This is the method I was refering to but I couldn't find the tute on it!!1

You are correct NP3, it's not the quilt as you go, it's the one your talking about.

You know what has me confused now, is how do you only sandwich the first strip down the centre with all the other fabric of the top and backing on each side?