Oh heavens I'm such a procrastinator! My quilter is on vacation and I need to quilt a lap quilt by Thursday! I don't have a walking foot or a darning foot what do I do?? HELP ME PLEASE!!!

You could tie it.

Tieing it is a last resort. I suppose I could go buy a walking foot........sigh........I could just shoot myself.

Can you adjust the pressure on your presser foot? If so, adjust it so you have little or no pressure. Drop your feed dogs and you are ready to do free motion. Use whichever foot has the smoothest bottom.

Or I have used a decorative stitch to quilt also. You will want to pick one that continues to move forward and not go back & forth. That didn't make sense. (edit)

You don't want one that goes forward and backward.

I wish I were close enough to help you out...

If you are going to straight line quilt it on your machine, I would reccomend you get a walking foot, and who knows,
you might like it enough to do it again.

Another thing, though, if you are going to do it on your machine, you will need to pin baste it.. so you will also need a LARGE quantity of safty pins..
and pin the layers together every two to three inches apart .

When you are pinning, be sure to put the pins where you dont plan to sew...so you dont have to stop and take them out all the time..

Also, put the pins in first and come back and close them .. so you dont distort the backing.. Pin a section, close them up, then move to another section,

Be sure everything is laying flat, no puckers, before you pin...

Good Luck

Another way would be to spray baste it... but that is expensive stuff, if you arent sure you are going to do it again...

Cant you give it as a top and send it to the quilter when she returns?

Thanks Mary, I will see if I can adjust the foot tension.

Jstitch, I wish you were close to me too!! LOL Thanks for all the tips. I think I will go look for a walking foot when my husband gets home from work (I don't want to bring the kids with me.....is Christmas break over yet?). I actually have some spray baste for a completely different project I worked on and did plan on using that for the lap quilt.

Oops. Yes, I did skip that step. Jstitch is right. You do have to baste it together somehow. Spray baste is probably the cheapest one time way to go.

Giving the top and finishing it later is definitely one way. I've done that on more than one occasion. I usually try to do too much so I don't meet my deadline.

Renee, giving the quilt top with a note that you will have it quilted by the longarm quilter is a wonderful gift in itself. Don't keep knocking yourself down. We are not the quilt police :) :) :)

Your quilt top is a very special gift of your time and talents. It also reflects your giving nature. Here is a hug!!!!!

Piecefully yours,
Kay Susan

I would give the top as is with a lovely note saying you will have it quilted. I'm sure she'll understand about your long arm quilter being on vacation. It's the thought that counts, right? We can only do so much, so don't beat yourself up about it - these kinda things happen.