kellyer21

Brilliant! I won't have to crawl around on the floor, SO looking forward to this! I will have finished and ready to baste very soon. 😊

Snooze2978

After seeing the idea of using pool noodles, I thought maybe I could use the to wind up my batting and place it under the quilt frame as I have rolling carts for it to lay on. Problem was my quilts are normally over 70" long and wide so the pool noodles (2) were too flimsy so I picked up a piece of thin conduit pipe to place thru the hole but I had to slice the pool noodles down the middle on one side only to get the pipe to go thru. I stick straight pins every couple feet along the pool noodle to keep the batting in place as I roll it up. As I advance the quilt, it just automatically rolls with the rest of the quilt. I have kitties that think playing or sleeping on the wadded up batting was for them so this way I've made it harder for them to put holes in the batting. Right now I'm working on a 107 x 107 quilt and though my pipe/pool noodle was not quilt long enough it still worked great for me. I know others have attached a pole under their frames but since I had the rolling carts under mine, this was the next best idea I could come up with.

b.zang

I thought I had hit the easy street when I started sandwiching quilts on the wall but pool noodles take easy to a whole new level. I especially appreciate the notes here about using noodles with bigger quilts. I tried sandwiching one that the edges hung over and it was a pain! I like it for smaller quilts, though, and might even try it again for larger. I'm lucky enough to belong to guild where we can take our quilts and lay them out on tables pushed together for sandwiching. Not only is there no bending over, there are plenty of willing helpers. You don't even need to ask, just start spreading out fabric and people appear - it's magic!

LGJARN52

For larger quilts that extend beyond the edges of your pool noodles, fit two noodles together end to end by placing a few inches of dowel rod or PVC pipe in the holes. You can then cut the extended pool noodle to your desired length if you want to.
It's now pool noodle season and I want to go buy a couple more to have around, for "just in case" reasons.

Onebyone

The big fat pool noodles work best for me.

CanoePam

I agree that using pool noodles is life changing! I have bad knees and a bad back. It is impossible for me to get on the floor and baste. We travel a lot in a motorhome, and finding a spot that would let me baste a quilt was hard. Now I just need pretty much any sized table. I keep 6 pool noodles handy. Most of my quilts are lap sized and will fit on three noodles. For the bigger ones I put a piece of plastic pipe between them to make a longer noodle. DH measured the interior diameter of the noodle hole, and the pipe fits right inside. I have sandwiched 4 quilts in the last 6 weeks. One of those had been waiting for 3 years! I like piecing, and I like quilting, but I hated basting until now.

Onebyone

I keep a wooden dowel about 12 inches long in one end each of the three basting noodles. I can pull it out about six inches and attach another noodle to the end.

"cat"astrophy

I just purchased 2 of the Mega Noodles at Dillon's last week. Love them over the skinny original pool noodles for quilting.

CanoePam

Pool noodles were an absolute game changer for me too. I can’t work on the floor, so I had to come up with another method. I make lots of lap and child quilts, so most can be done with one length of pool noodle and spray basting. I pin when I use a wool batting though. When I have bigger quilts, I put a dowel to join two together. I just did a 48x60 quilt today in about 30 minutes, and I will quilt it tomorrow. I have my husband help me a bit, and it goes faster. I do turn the sandwich over when I finish, just to double check I didn’t put any wrinkles in, and sometimes I need to do a bit of smoothing then, but it is minor.

aashley333

I stopped for a pizza yesterday, and I spied pool noodles next door at the Dollar Tree! I now own 3 big fat noodles. Can't wait to see how easy they work!