Pin Basting

Yesterday, though a holiday was a quiet day.  We did not have family in nor did we go to be with family.  Sometimes you just need a "catch up" day to do whatever you want or need to do.  After some catch up ironing, we had to go out and buy a new iron.  Yep, after the ironing was done.  The iron decided to boil the water and spew it out in globs on the clothes.  Not a good thing!

Then, I got to play!

The first step is to re-press the top and backing and to de-thread both during this process.  This is a pile of thread collected from the seam side of the top.  If you leave these threads, particularly the dark ones, Murphy's Law takes effect and you have dark threads behind every light piece in the quilt.

Okay, maybe not every one, but they WILL find their way to the light pieces and make a shadow on the quilt.  This is definitely not a good thing!

The second step is to lay the quilt back down with the right side down and the seam side up.  In my case, I do this on a tile floor and tape the backing in place.

When we lived in a house with plush carpeting I used to T-pin the quilt back in place, but this house has Frize' or something like that with loops.  You just can't pin baste on that!

Next comes the batting, for which there is not photo.  Until I downloaded the pictures, I thought I had taken a photo of that step, but it wasn't on the camera.  No way was I going to remove the top to take the picture! 

The batting should be about an 1" on all sides smaller than the backing and centered on it.

Finally comes the top.  This time, seam side down and right side up!

The top should be centered on the batting and as straight as it can be.  I have been known to get out a carpenter's square to accomplish this.  Sometimes this is more important to me than others.  This is a bed quilt that will not be entered in a show, so it's not as critical, though I still what it straight on the batting and backing so I do take time with this process.

Here is another view of the sandwich ready to have the pins inserted.

You can see the claw foot of the table which is now shoved against the island in the kitchen.  This is motivation to get the pin basting done as it makes it difficult to use the table for meals.

My husband expects meals.  Go figure!

Today I will be putting in the pins.  I have an outside appointment so it may not all get accomplished today.  Unless I want to crawl on the floor all evening, it just won't all get done today.  This is a time consuming, but very important step.

Maybe I should think about having my basting done by a long armer.  It would save a lot of time that could be used quilting!

Well, it's time to put the knee pads on!  Just kidding, I really don't use them, but it's a thought!

Before I go, we had rain last night!  Yay! It had been a LONG time since we'd had more than a sprinkle.  It was nice to listen to the rain as I fell asleep last night.  Those of you where you've had flooding might not be as excited about rain as I am, but here in the desert, we look forward to a good rain!

Until next time,
Lois