Originally Posted by catrancher
How careful do you have to be? And do you baste the whole thing at once? Work from the middle out? (I know I'm supposed to quilt from the middle out.) It just seems impossible to me that it will all stay put. (Maybe I'm a wild quilter. Do you think so?)
It's good to follow a specific series of steps when spray basting to make it easier. For example, position batting on top of backing the way you want it first, then turn back half of the batting, spray it, then smooth it back into position. Then do the other half the same way. Position the top, fold back, spray, smooth that half, etc. the same way.
On a large quilt it can be a good idea to pin baste along the edges.
You don't necessarily machine quilt from the center of the quilt. A lot depends on the type of quilting you are doing. If you are doing straight line quilting, for example, to create squares then you start at the middle *of a side* and work your way to the opposite side. Similarly, with free motion stippling, you probably want to start at a side edge and work your way to a side edge. That way you don't have to worry about burying thread ends later. There are some designs that require starting and stopping in the middle of the quilt, but most do not.