Today I start the work on piecing the blocks for the next QAYG project. It will be a variation on the current QAYG method. This project will have a 2.5" Sashing in-between the blocks.

Part of my personal learning goal is to have a better understanding of battings. When I walk down the aisle of batting at Jo Anns or I am looking at batting online I really am making my selection based on price and appeal.
So I think it’s time I went to Batting School…

The first project I used the 100% polyester very affordable priced batting. As nice as my project finished up, I’m certain the batting will not hold up over time. I’m alright with that because I didn’t want to invest a lot of money into a learning project. Now that I feel more confident in my skills I want to use a batting that is considered better quality.

What I have on hand is Warm & Natural. I took a moment and asked myself why I bought the Warm & Natural batting in the first place. Honestly it was the appeal of the name and packaging. While I am prewashing my fabric for the next project I will spend some time reading up on batting and will share this afternoon what I learned. That of course will also be after I come back from Panda Express for some… Yum!!!….. Kung Pao chicken and Chow mein!!!. ;)

Well, I just discovered that I made a mistake. I cut the front sashing at 1 1/2 inches. I have already put two rows together and am not emotionally prepared to take that all apart, so......I will have to do the rest of it the same. It is actually coming together okay, so I am not really upset. I just have to pay attention better on the next one.

The quilts are looking good.

Boston how are you filling in the extra 1/2 inch of sashing? Just wondered how you were compensating for it. Would you mind sharing a picture. ?? Sounds like you are having some good results. :)

Here is what I learned today. I also included a very nice link with a review where an individual did her own experiments with Warm & Natural vs. Mountain Mist Cream Rose.

I hope you enjoy! :thumbup:


Batting School : What I learned about Warm & Natural.

Warm & Natural is packaged as 100% cotton but it is Needle punched into a polyester Scrim so truly the package you are buying is a 87.5% cotton/12.5% poly blend.
The batting is a needle punched (explained further down) batt that contains tiny plant particles but has no glues or resins within it. The other 12.5% of the batt blend is the Polyester “Scrim” this is a thin man-made woven fiber about the weight of a dryer sheet. With the scrim on one side of the batt the layers of cotton fiber are then bonded together with multiple barbed needles a process known as Needle Punch.
The Warm and Natural can shrink up to 3% which will give the antique look, however, you can prewash the batting prior to use. The Warm and Natural batting is preferred often for tie quilting because it has up to a 10” inch quilting Interval. It is also used for hand or machine stitching.

Batting Battles: Warm & Natural vs. Mountain Mist Cream Rose


http://tulip-patch.blogspot.com/2010...atural-vs.html

Here's what I've completed on my paper pieced 7" squares. For some reason, the picture of the back won't download for some reason. I've taken 3 different pictures & this site won't download any of them. Just can't figure out why.

I'm going to find my smaller blocks to add as borders to finish this one. I will spend more time matching the sashing since some of them were a little WONKA! I'll post a picture of it again when I'm all finished.

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Patricia you quilt center is beautiful... I look forward to see your border. :)

Jenniky -- thanks so much for this... I have spent the past few days reading from the beginning. I NEED this NOW! Perfect timing. I have quilt blocks pieced and quilted waiting to do some form of QAYG. Thought I knew what I was going to do before reading here. Now I gotta try your method before going further with the real thing. Maybe your next few methods as well. This is so timely.

--Boston how are you filling in the extra 1/2 inch of sashing?--

Actually they are pretty close. The back sashing is pulling them together. The front sashing is bowing out slightly, but not enough to get me ticked off about it. When it gets washed it may pull in closer.

Thank you JeanieG. I have a MacBook Pro. Is Picasa compatible with it?

Patricia, here is what I found from Google - Yes, you can use it on a Mac, and this link will tell you all about it.

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/200...a-for-mac.html

I figured out how to resize my pictures so here is the back of the quilt.

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Patricia, nice job. Jeanie your blocks will make a nice quilt. Some intricate piecing in several of them. Isn't it nice when these blocks find a suitable home?

JeanieG- Sectional QAYG is pretty much as it sounds. Instead of Block by Block quilting as we are doing in the current method. Sections ( Rows or Quadrants ) are quilted at the same time. You found some awesome blocks to work with. They are beautiful. :thumbup:

Denek - Welcome to the thread I hope you will share your quilted blocks and progress with us here. :thumbup:

Boston1954 - Sounds like its definitely working for you. :thumbup:

PatriciaFaye - The back side of your quilt looks great, Im glad JeanieG was able to help you with the resizing of your pictures. Have you started working on the borders. Im looking forward to seeing them. :thumbup::thumbup:

Boston - these are really cute blocks. She will be so surprised !!

I've heard that wool batting is also the warmest. Does anyone know this as fact?

But, I can't work with wool of any kind since I'm allergic to wool.

I use Warm & Natural or Warm & White for 99% of my projects and they work well for me. But, I have noticed that Joanns now has 2 thicknesses. I never realized this until I was working on a QAYG project and grabbed for more batting to find it was thinner than what I was working with.....so off to Joanns to buy more (obviously more expensive by a few dollars).

The only thing I don't like about poly batting is when you cut / trim it, it has all those fine fibers left behind or flying around in the air. Maybe someone can tell me if I'm cutting it wrong or something.

Jenniky - Looking forward to seeing the next option. Enjoying all the beautiful quilts getting done. Now I need to get my commissioned work finished so I can do some "fun" sewing for me. My Fibro has been taking its toll on me this past week so not getting much done right now.

Sorry, but I have never tried wool batting. I cannot touch it. Allergic. I was also allergic to chocolate when I was a kid. Thank goodness I outgrew that!!! :-)

I had already started on a QAYG using orphaned/scrappy blocks, trying to use them up. Some are attempts at learning my embroidery machine, some are my learning to paper piece, etc.

Here they are. I have 30- 14" blocks, so I plan on using a 5x6 layout.

Here are some pictures. They aren't all that compelling and nearly as interesting as you all's but hopefully when I'm done, it will be a respectable scrappy quilt--

Gee, that's odd. I hand quilt a lot, and have never had a problem with Warm and Natural. Don't know if I am just lucky or what, but here are some of my stitches. They fairly good to me.

Annie, your stitches look great . I love the quilting design you've used. I just recently heard something something about the scrim side and the cotton side. Could it be that you sandwich with a different side down? Is there anyone on this theqd that can tell me which side should be to the top? I understand it has something to do with it pulling through to the right side if the fabric when stitched. And the most basic question, how do you tell which is the scrim side? I've used W&N for about a year and like it a lot. I did send a wool bat along to my LAQ for my warmer winter quilt. She loved working with it!

Great Discussion everyone.... Hmmm how to figure out which is the scrim side. ????

Just flyin I think your scrappy squares are lovely... and the quilt will be warm and cozy to wrap up in when its finished. :thumbup:

Sounds interesting, think I will give it a try. It would be great to finish a quilt at the same time. BTW, I am from your neck of the woods, The Harbor,

Welcome to the thread Katsewnsew. I live here in Portage now but Mesa, Arizona is my neck of the woods. Actually lived both in Mesa and Gilbert. :D

I finally have pictures to show. [ATTACH=CONFIG]357993[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]357994[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]357995[/ATTACH]

The following are what I'm working on right now. I saw the straight line quilting on a link on the board and it is working perfectly for this. I've pieced the batting and since it's for a little girl, I knew that it would keep it stable for years to come.

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