CaleyH

Wish I had a bed big enough. I got rid of my queen size just before my heart surgery, replacing it with a twin XL that has head and knee electric adjustment. I definitely needed it after surgery, as the queen would nave been too big to put the bedding on by myself. I live alone, so I needed anything that would aid me in recovery.

Anyway, the floor is the only thing large enough to hold even this small quilt.

I know that working from the center probably allows you go get everything perfectly flat. But getting all three layers aligned so that one of them isn't out of whack is what I am looking at. I really don't want to have to tear everything apart, and do it again. Just have to see how things work out, and if I can't manage to get things aligned and nice and flat, then I will have to live with whatever I can manage.

pocoellie

Caley, is the flooring carpet where you're laying the sandwich on? If not, then you can tape the backing to the floor, then put your batting and top and pin. How I do grid pattern quilting is I start at corner, sew to the opposite diagonal corner, cut my threads, then move over whatever distance and head back the way I came. I hope I'm explaining this good enough to understand, but in other words, alternating directions, I'll finish the one side then start on the remaining half. I do a diagonal grid both ways. I rarely do a grid pattern though, since I can FMQ faster than I can do the grid pattern.

CaleyH

pocoellie, I now have linoleum flooring, so I could tape things down. Thanks for the tip.

I understand how you do the diagonals.

dee1245

I usually fold the backing in half side to side and put a light crease with an iron then fold it in half top to bottom and crease it so you have the exact mid point of the quilt; this is done both to quilt top and backing. It is easier to work with the fabric and batting folded into quarters. I find this easier to put the layers together with everything more compact for handling. I can I hope this makes sense.

CaleyH

dee1245, Thanks so much. I will remember that on my next quilt.

I finished laying out and pinning . I put the backing right side down, then taped it to the floor.

I also cut the batting just a tiny bit smaller than the backing, and then flattened it over the backing.

I then put the top over it all and pinned it on all the blocks to the other two layers. I thought I had a lot more safety pins than I thought. I had just enough.

As it is, I got very close on one end to the top missing the backing edge. But still had a tiny bit overage on the bottom.

Now all I have to do is watch some videos on how to prepare the machine, and how to stitch from corner to corner.

I tried to buy some blue painters tape, but got sticker shock and didn't make the purchase. $5 for a roll of 3/4 inch blue tape? Is that a normal price?

I've still got to figure out how to get the rolled up quilt layers to not unroll while the other side is being stitched. I have some big 3 inch plastic clamps I might try.

Anyway, close to starting the big stitch.

Iceblossom

Dollar store generally has a couple of sizes of blue tape in stock. It is not the best blue tape, but it is handy. I find it gets brittle/old fairly fast and has more problems coming off the roll than the name brand, but it still does what I want, which is stick stuff together until I want to take it apart. I'd check how much is on the roll too when comparison shopping, sometimes the items look better individually than in a bulk buy. They also, btw, have safety pins (some of which are a lot better than others). For short term use, it doesn't matter so much. In terms of investment items, buy the quilter brass ones with the little curve in the bar. Pins, safety pins, staples, can all rust and cause various problems if left in fabric too long. In humid areas "too long" might be a fairly short period of time.

Were you going to use the blue tape to mark your quilting line? You can also use regular old fashioned masking tape for that. I think most people peel off about a foot or so of tape at a time and reposition it multiple times rather than a single long piece.

It takes more pins than a person would think. I probably have close to 500 and they are in a cigar box sized container. I typically stack nine pins onto one so have counts of ten and can loosely count/throw them out where needed.

CaleyH

I'll take a look into all three of the Dollar Store type businesses we have here in 29 Palms. Hopefully one of those will have something at a reasonable price. Of course, I really don't know what is reasonable. I think I am just too old, and remember when things were a lot cheaper.

I watched a couple of YouTube videos on the waling foot. Got mine installed.

I took a couple of 4 inch fabric squares with a piece of batting between and did a couple of lines of stitches. I just stopped, lifted the foot, move the fabric 90 degrees, and then moved an inch, then did the same thing until I got those three lines. Worked perfectly

Not sure what thread colour to use. I switched to a stone colour for the test. I guess this colour is fairly neutral to most of the colours in my quilt. Unless someone has a better alternative, I will go with this colour.

Iceblossom

When we deal with scrappy tops, the advice is usually that a light-to-medium slate blue/grey or a beige is usually the safest bet.

That's why I usually am using those colors as my piecing threads too, if I match colors with my vision issues I can't see the seams, and with the amounts of different fabrics I use, I'd be changing thread every 2" seam... and that is not how I wish to do things!

CaleyH

I think the "Connecting Threads" stone colour will be about that colour. This quilt will not be leaving home to go to anyone. It is just an experiment to see if I can actually do quilting.

I got some brown masking tape at onme of the Dollar stores. It's one inch wide, so that is how far apart my line of stitches will be. I'm guessing that is OK. In some videos, the thread lines have been farther than that.

Iceblossom

One-inch is pretty tight quilting. I'd probably think about 3-4 inches. From experience and package directions I can tell you 6-8+ may hold it together for now, but will not last...