Catching the Threads of Quilting...

Spray Basting

A continuing thread for the progress in learning to quilt...
Can you say "proud of a job well done?"
Well, I am.

Learning to "sandwich" 

My sister has taken the learning process of quilting very seriously and done a terrific piece of work. Each step was shown slowly and carefully, then, I stepped back and watched her take ownership. At each turning point, we stepped back to admire the progress.
Finally ready to sandwich the designed front piece to the matching brown backing, I decided a shortcut for basting was in order. We joined the ladies' "First Friday's Sew N Share" group at my church and enlisted a better quilter than I, my friend Jan, to help me show my sis how to sandwich and baste with spray glue.

Quilted front of pillow cover

Finished pillow cover

With left over fabric pieces, she made a pillow top cover, and I suggested she practice her quilting on the smaller piece first. She decided to do a "stitch in the ditch" encompassing each colorful 4-square. Then, she chose one of my stencils for a running design down the borders. She traced that design onto the front panel with a CLOVER white tracing pencil.
As a side note, this white marking pen darkens with time, which helps immensely with the time it takes for larger projects, yet it disappears with the touch of a hot iron.

Tackling the big one!

Finally, with a big intake of breath and a slight nervousness, she began to quilt! At the lowest speed, the needle chugged along one stitch at a time. Not sure of herself, she took occasional glances of the back side which added a smile to the job.  It didn't take her long to realize that she would have to often trek off to the ironing board to iron out wrinkles caused by the tugging and pulling under the short arm. But even those times gave us chances for quick admiration of the progress.

Almost finished...

One week later, the "almost completed" lies across her bed and a proud resolve has settled in for a weekend rest from sewing. I am so pleased that my first attempt at teaching her my love for quilting has come to such a beautiful display of her diligent work.

Stitching threads for quilting are determined to finish and have a wonderful quilt and pillow cover packed in a suitcase when our time together is complete.