My local-ish library to the rescue, of course. I checked out The Quilter's Catalog by Meg Cox. (It was the best of the slim pickings available. However, if you're looking for a book on basket weaving or gourd carving, the Folsom library has got millions for you to choose from.)
According to the book, I needed to make a "quilt sandwich". This means spreading out the backing, the batting, and finally the top, and then basting them all together. Preferably on a wood floor or other hard surface, so you can tape them down. I can see how that would be the best thing to do, but all I've got is carpet. I cleared as much of the studio floor as I could, and set about carefully spreading out the layers of fabric. This proved to be tricky for a number of reasons, not the least of which was my constant helper pugs, who insisted on being RIGHT THERE the whole time. In the end, all I could do was hope that the layers were smoothed out enough. There was no way to tell what was going on in the back layer, but the top looked great.
So: basting. Basting basting basting. Baseterds. For those who have never been through this before, basting is temporarily stitching fabric together, generally in large stitches so they can be easily removed.
Picture if you will a pregnant woman on her hands and knees, shuffling around the floor with a giant needle and orange thread, occasionally kicking in the direction of the pugs who keep wandering onto the giant quilt. Every so often, she has to stop and whine about rib pain. This activity is not helping the constant rib pain.
In fact, if I have one complaint about the second trimester, it's this: RIB PAIN. RIB PAAAAIIIIN. My left rib hurts, constantly. Have I mentioned that enough yet?
Okay, onward. Many hours later, the basting was complete! I even managed to NOT baste the quilt to the carpet. Hooray! No more crawling on the ground! My ribs would get a break! Now what?
Find out in part three of The Quiltening - This Time It's Personal.
*And why yes, these photos WERE taken out of sequence! How keen of you to notice. Seems that I managed to forget to photograph the whole basting part of the process. Oops.
*Oh! And in case you missed it, here's part one of this craftastrophe: What, Me Quilting?
9 comments:
Oh, that little pug face is adorable!! And your quilt is pretty sweet too!!
Thanks very much!
Claire, you crack me up. I have quite the mental image of little preggers Claire on her hands and knees, trying to baste to the background noise of pug snorts. Love it.
The new blog is clean! fresh! engergizing! Want to redo mine? :)
That's a pretty accurate description of how it was. Snorts and all!
Thanks for the sweet comments! ^_^
Hi Claire, you got me hooked for part 3. I like your fabric mix!
Thank you! I decimated the blue part of my fabric stash, but I think it was worth it. ^_^
Great quilt!! I enjoy quilting but only do wall hanging size and smaller because I can't get down and up from the floor very easy!! Good job!
Oh the pug!!!! We used to have a Boston and my Dad has 3 pugs Sooooooo cute!!! That little face!!! Oh and the quilt is pretty amazing too LOL!!!
Aw, thanks! Got to love those flat faced dogs, right? :)
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