Thank you Thank you ....Carriem, Dublb, and Ssnare. Put my frustration on the shelf and pulled out another top I have been working on and off on. Will post a picture later today. :) I just need to sew the final rows together and the top is finished so will put me back on track for preparation and actually starting to machine quilt the first section .

First Posting of QAYG Spring Project.
 

First Posting of QAYG Spring Project.

I completed piecing the rows on my substitute top for this project. I hung the backing on the wall first and smoothed completely. Then I hung the batting and likewise smoothed it completely. Then I hung the top smoothing completely thus creating a sandwiched quilt. Using a hand quilting thread you can see in the picture I am hand basting the mid section of the quilt sandwich with large stitches zig zagging up then back down the center. This will stabilize the mid section of the quilt when I take it down off the wall.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]407987[/ATTACH] Yup that's me there in my comfy clothes working on the quilt. :)

When I am finished basting this mid section I will then carefully bring the quilt off the wall and fold back the outer sections top and bottom allowing me to cut off the end sections of the batting layer only. This will allow me to fold the outer portions tightly and pin them out of the way making it easier to maneuver the mid section of this large quilt on my small standard sewing machine. Once I have finished quilting the mid section I can either reattach the outer section of the batting I removed previous by hand stitching or using a heat bond made for joining batting pieces. Then after smoothing out and hand basting the first outer section I can again minimize by folding and pinning the other sections of the quilt enabling me to work freely on the second section. Finally I will reattach the third section and after hand basting it and pinning the other sections I am ready to quilt the final section of the top.

If you are using a low loft batting it is feasibly possibly to quilt your sections without removing the batting. It really depends on what you are comfortable with and IMHO the intricacy and movement required for your quilting patterns. Will post more pictures as I complete the quilting on the sections.

Just a note:

So far I have found that the first QAYG process I shared at the beginning of this thread to be the easiest for making large quilts on a standard size sewing machine. I know I have learned so much about QAYG hosting this thread. There are other variations of QAYG then I have covered in this thread; however I have not been able to get my head around some of the concepts with the free tutorials provided. What's coming next?

Yup, you guessed it. This will be my last project for this thread. This 2013 I am going to focus more on just the quilt tops. There are so many patterns I have yet to make. LOL I'm ready to leave the quilting aspect to the Long Arm Quilters this year and focus on just piecing. :)

Hugs all around Ladies will post more pictures as I complete this project. :thumbup:

Sewing Your quilt in divided batting sections.
 

With the quilt off the wall I cut the batting from each side of the center..
(remember only cut the batting :thumbup:)
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Now I rolled both sides inward tightly without batting adding to the bulk I can easily maneuver it in the machine to stipple the center of the quilt.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]408153[/ATTACH]

Once I finished stippling the center I was then ready to insert and outside batting. As I stated before you can either hand baste the batting back together or use a heat bond designed for joining batting. As you can see I hand basted mine.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]408154[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]408155[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]408156[/ATTACH]
Then it was back to quilting first one side then I did the above step again to the other side and completed the quilting.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]408157[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]408158[/ATTACH]

Now at this point If I wanted to make this quilt larger I could use the technique from the second QAYG tutorial to add a quilted border all around this small quilt. :)

Thank you my quilting friends. Have an Awesome Day!:thumbup:

JEN...THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! Yes, I really am screaming it...:) I spent the month making a queen size (90x108) T-shirt quilt (my first ever, both for type & size) for my grandson who will be graduating in June. I NEVER could have done this if I had not learned that first qayg that you taught. I used the pattern "BQ" by Debbie Bowles (used assorted sports 2 1/2" strips to make the 12 1/2" blocks; decided to do the qayg in 3 sections only because I wanted the back squares (I embroidered them for the story) to kinda float. That made each section 36x90. That section was heavy enough on it's own...by the time I added that last strip I could hardly lift the quilt! I have tennis elbow and a wrist & shoulder problem that came out making the quilt (I guess because it was so heavy). I really must love him! I WILL NEVER MAKE ANOTHER ONE OF THAT SIZE!!! So, again, thank you for the technique.

Wow Vicki! That turned out great!!! I like your messages on the back.