Mistakes I have learned from:
Using home made rulers and cutting board - I will be investing in a proper cutting mat and ruler when I go to the Quilt show in two weeks time - using a cardboard template and my kitchen butchers block didn't get such accurate squares, so it seems!
Using normal pins to baste - I know each way of basting has its pros and cons, but I think safety pins are going to be the next step for me, quilting this basted with normal pins was full of 'ouch'!
Not putting on a border before basting and quilting. Seems like such a common sense thing to do, but putting a border on never entered my mind when I had finished piecing the quilt top, so I quilted it and then even trimmed off some of the excess batting and backing. Then I realised my mistake. I have managed to sew a satin ribbon on as a border, but had to sew it through the whole quilt, meaning an extra line of stitching on the back, which isn't too bad but I am annoyed at myself!
Not trimming threads off as I go - I left so many threads untrimmed from piecing and quilting. What a pain - I spent 30 mins trimming them all off last night!
Binding - As I am pushed for time and have not done any hand stitching in YEARS, I sewed the bindng the front, flipped it over the back, pinned it down and stitched in the ditch from the front. However, on the first side of the quilt I pinned too far apart and the machine didn't catch it in the back in a few places. But at least I learnt my lesson for the other 3 sides.
Good things I learnt:
Mitred corners - not as hard as I thought they would be!
Joining the binding ends - also not as hard as I thought it would be!
Stitching in the ditch - again, this was not as hard as I thought it would be!
I love quilting!