This week I posted on my Facebook wall that my kids had started a “Puzzlathon”.  Due to them getting along, not playing electronics, and my love for puzzles, I allowed them to continue for days despite it delaying my projects.  That was until Friday night when I finally bit the bullet and laid my quilt out on the table to start the process of pin basting.

I’ve hemmed and hawed about basting a quilt for quite some time.  My mom has supplied all my long arm quilting needs of which I am most grateful.  But I am refusing to stay comfortable with what I know.  I have to expand my knowledge and abilities.  So, I decided that my version of an Around the World quilt that I started this summer, would be my guinea pig to not only pin baste but also free motion quilt.  This step has scared me so I’m working up the courage little by little to start.

Preparation & Research

I used last week during the kids “Puzzathon” to do research and get my supplies together.  I couldn’t spend a great deal of money so whatever I needed would need to be cheap.  I already had my backing fabric, batting, and quilt top supplies.

I knew that my dining room table would be my largest surface on which to work.  As I laid in bed one night, it occurred to me that if I didn’t protect my table somehow, I would end up with gouges and scrapes in my beautiful finish.  The next day, I set out to research online how others get around this problem.  Search results came back with simply putting a cutting mat down on the table and moving it around under my quilt sandwich, would protect my table.  Score!  It solved a problem and its free.

Next, I realized that the only safety pins that I had were straight “normal” safety pins in various sizes.  Not only did I know that I didn’t have enough, I also knew that many quilters prefer curved pins and I didn’t have any.  So I made a trip to my local craft store and picked up a package of large curved quilting safety pins.  Why large?  I had read that the large ones were easier to use and didn’t hurt your fingers as much.  $2.50 out of pocket after a 50% coupon. Problem solved.  They would work very nicely along with my current small supply of Pinmoors.

I also realized that I couldn’t find the painters tape so I needed to find some cheap clamps or go buy a new roll of tape.  I had heard various reports about tape and others say how much they prefer to use clamps, so I asked my husband to pick me up some clamps on a recent trip to the hardware store.  6- 2″ camps for $1 a piece.  Score!

Total out of pocket for the week was $8.50.  Very doable and I didn’t feel like I broke the bank.  Now I just had to get busy.

The Basting Process

I put my large cutting mat on the middle of my table.  I then laid out my backing fabric and clamped it to the table.  Once the backing was secured, I laid the batting down, and followed up with the quilt top.

As soon as all the layers were smoothed out, I started pinning.  I began with the safety pins working from the center of the project outwards.  When I ran out of safety pins, I started using the Pinmoors.  Initially, I only put the pins every 6″ as per what was recommended by several experienced quilters.  I added more before I done just to make sure I was well taken care of.

The process didn’t take me too terribly long, which surprised me.  I expected my neck and back to hurt and for it take hours.  What did surprise me though was that I got close to the end and found that my batting didn’t extend far enough past my quilt top.  I thought I had it laid out so evenly.   A quick, emergency call to my mom remedied the situation is short order.  I now know how to fuse batting pieces together. Yet another lesson learned.

The quilt got rolled up at the end of the evening and set aside. I hope to start marking out a quilting plan in the days ahead. Saturday’s focus was on learning how to create a toiletry bag for my son as he heads off to his first overnight camp this week.

I have two more weeks of my summer flexibility.   I’m hoping to make the most of it and see this project come to completion so I can shift my focus towards the beginning of school.