Thank goodness for my local library!
 

I have a couple quilts that needed to be sandwiched. One of them is 68"x68". I really didn't feel like crawling around on my kitchen floor on my hands and knees so I packed up my quilts, backing and batting, scissors, green Frog tape, spray baste, and headed to the library.

As luck would have it, the meeting room at the library wasn't in use (on a Sunday afternoon). Yeah! I probably should have called just to make sure, but I had faith it would be available. I happily moved tables together and started working.

Best idea I've had in months! No killing my knees and working in odd positions and kneeling all over and potentially marking up or damaging my quilt tops.

Both quilts were sandwiched and ready to go 2 hours. Yeah....:thumbup:

Now it's on to practice more FMQing.

Your local library and church are great places to go when you need to sandwich a quilt.

Great idea!

Several of my quilting friends meet once a week in the meeting room of our library. We sew all day. The tables are so handy for lay outs and basting. The room is free so take advantage of it. We had our day put on the schedule so it's always available for us.

Great idea! :)

Our local library will let you use a meeting room but they won't let you spray baste! Odor, overspray, stickiness. . .

Yeah I was thinking of the spray basting too... Maybe it would be better to pin baste at the library ;)

they seriously let you use pins on their tables or spray basting there? wow.

I cannot imagine our local library allowing this, especially the spray starch which, at home anyway, always results in overspray on whatever is nearby. Our library staff is not even that accommodating or friendly when you want to check out a book, so I can't think what they would say if you wanted to sandwich a quilt in the meeting room!

Glad for you that yours is more customer friendly, though!

Auntpigglypn said they would not let them spray baste for obvious reasons. Think pinning would be okay. Never thought to try the library for laying up a quilt. Thanks for the suggestions.

A small group of us also meet at out local library once a month, but they have mentioned that other groups who have a standing reservation usually donate $100-150.....we are thinking of either having a quilt show demo one of the months or find a free space....I thought are taxes would be sufficient dues.

How nice and a lot of fun!

wow-great idea.I spent many hours on the floor in the pre-long arm days.

we have a great quilting group that meets on a schedule at our library. We have classes, make charity quilts and other projects. Mostly we work on our own projects and share our talents. our entire library system is great. They have something going everyday for all ages making sure to incorporate the interests of everyone.

A lot of places are "asking" for donations to help with budget gaps. Our schools have fees by the hour to cover heat, light, custodial, etc so they are rarely used by the public, though we pay Very high school taxes. My Guild meets at a VFW and a large portion of our $25 dues and a raffle quilt's proceeds are given annually. This helps with the heating and utility bills, provides funds toward ceiling fans, new steps, and other items needed. In addition we buy new tables piece by piece. When pinning I slide a large cutting mat along underneath but many folks don't and the tables are very damaged. If using a public space it is wise to be sensitive to the patrons and facilities or access could be revoked and denied for other groups.

If you have a local fire dept with a meeting hall, you might want to check with them as well. Might want a small fee but you might have more space to work as well.

I always did mine there b4 I got my condo. also great for computr use, used theirs for free with printouts till last august. they have great rooms and tables. ours even has a fireplace, café, recliners, headphones, and separate smaller rooms for meetings with conference tables that will hold a king size perfectly.
My library has 4 floors of greatness, die cut machines, magazines overhead projecters, fishing poles and bikes to take out along with the magazines and newspaper and paintings and such

I never thought of using the library's meeting room. My husband and I are moving to a senior community next month, and they have a craft/quilt room. I can't wait to check it out!

Never thought of using my library!! I use elmer glue so I should be ok! :-)

I once sandwiched a quilt on the floor of the fire station on a day when the trucks were out at drill! Gotta love small towns.


Anita

I use our church fellowship hall to put my quilts together. I can't bend one of my knees at all so crawling on the floor is an impossibility. So glad you came up with an alternative to crawling around on the floor.

that's pretty nice of your library I doubt that the libraries around here (what's left) will allow that. they closed a lot of them around here and also post office's

I love my local library, too, but I've never basted there. I check out all the new quilting books to see if they are books I 'need' to purchase. I'm also able to suggest a purchase for the newly released books, or books that are not yet available on Amazon. The library orders them and sends me an email when my suggestion has arrived. At first I felt guilty about using the library in this way, but then I took a cruise down the romance fiction aisle, and realized that my suggestions were much better than any of those books!

I would never donate money to a public service that taxes pay for. I have donated my time to the school when my kids attended.

I can't believe a library would be unwelcoming to any patron who is courteous and mindful of cleaning up the area they use. Libraries are not just for books, they now have computers, music, craft sections, etc. The more they are used the more valuable they become. Talk to your librarians and you may be surprised what they allow.

I can't believe your library is open on Sunday!! I live in one of the wealthiest counties in the country, yet my library (not a wealthy neighborhood, lol) is only open Monday-Thursday. I don't know if they'll allow me to baste their, but I'll sure ask. It's a lot closer than church. One of the librarians is always asking about my quilts, so I take them in for her to see. Maybe I can get her to help! :D

I was also surprised that the library was open. They have 3 branches and two were closed, but the one that was open was only open from 1-5pm. Soon as I walked in I recognized the lady behind the counter as a neighborhood acquaintance and also, she worked at the day care where my grand kids stayed, so she knew me well enough to know I would be respectful and appreciative to be able to use the meeting room.

As my momma used to say, "It never hurts to ask, the worst they can say is no."

so political, but i have to say....

libraries are bastions of freedom. access to information is primary to the maintenance of democracy.

closing libraries, choking them through chronic underfunding and restricting access are threats to your very freedom.

support you library any way you can.

aileen, stepping off her soapbox

I use to use the classroom at my LQS but I would be very careful at using ANY spray basting because you suppose to have good air circulation. These areas are available to us for free so I would be careful NOT to abuse this privilege. Just be very careful. I would LEAVE the spray basting at home and pack the safety pins instead.

yep, yep, yep! Thank you stillclock for this reminder. We should all stand up and shout for our freedom.

You must have a great library and that is a brilliant idea! I bet you had a bit of an audience.

A few years ago I asked at my local JoAnns to use their tables, ok if they didn't have a class...........calla

HHave you asked them? I think it might be open to the public.

Thanks for the reminder about the library - I had forgotten about going there.

I am calling the library right now!

Fantastic idea. WOW

love the idea, but I do spray baste, so will have to continue doing that at home ... but for pin basters, great idea!

I haven't used the library, however, I have used the banquet tables of my church, put two together and one nice, large basting table, with no crawling on the floor - besides, if I got down on the floor they would need a hoist to get me up. Just sayin'. LOL

You can also cut 1 ft sections of PVC pip to slip over the legs of the table to raise it up a bit so you aren't leaning so far, lots easier on the back

I don't know if they would allow it in our libraries, either. I know they charge groups for meeting in the rooms.