Well, it was December 2004 and I had completed my first quilt top, the king-size 28 color bargello.  So far so good.  But….what on earth should I do next?

Well, I turned to the person who got me hooked in the first place, my work buddy, Lynda.  She knew a long arm quilter and had used her several times and been really happy with the results.  At that point, I didn’t even know what a long arm was.  A king size quilt would have cost me around $500.  That seemed like a lot of money for one quilt.  Since I was hooked (and planned to make more), how could I continue to justify the cost of having someone else do the quilting?

Also, I’m a stubborn (or possibly just plain idiotic) type of gal and really wanted to be able to say that I’d done the entire thing, start to finish, by myself.

What was the alternative?  I could try to quilt it myself, but on my old White with the regular 6” throat space, it would be pretty well impossible to do a king size quilt.  I did some research on the internet and then checked out the local sewing / quilting stores and found a machine that had a 9 inch throat space.  I believe it was the only one at that time with the larger throat space other than possibly some embroidery machines (which I wasn’t interested in).  It was a Janome MemoryCraft 6500 and boy, was it calling my name!  So, since it was December, (follow me on this one), I hit on the brilliant idea of asking (well, all right, campaigning actually) for a new sewing machine for Christmas.  I could justify the price because after a few quilts (and not going to the long arm quilter) it would pay for itself.  Right?  Plus, my White was over 25 years old. 

Anyway, I worked on dear hubby for a while and finally got him to agree one night.  He did say yes (I swear), but I guess he was mostly asleep at the time because he couldn’t remember agreeing.  He was initially pretty ticked when I brought it home a few days later, since I’d bought it “without consulting him”.  However, it was my Christmas gift in 2004.  By the way, we’re still married, 28 years now, and it all worked out, because he thinks it’s great that I am able to create and do this thing I enjoy so much.  He still can’t understand why we cut our fabric into so many little pieces only to sew it together again, though.

So, long story short, I now had a machine capable of handling a king size quilt.  Back I went to my friend Lynda for some more advice.  She talked me through how to pin a quilt.  No thread basting for this chicky….remember, I can’t stand hand sewing.

I used my kitchen island.  I marked the center of the island by taping two toothpicks in a cross and also marked the center of all four sides of the island with taped down toothpicks as well.  I use the toothpicks because you can feel them through all the layers.  Next, I fold my backing in four (wrong sides together) and lay it on one quarter of the island, lining it up with the centre toothpicks.  Then I’ll clamp down the one quarter so it doesn’t move.  Then I unfold it, being careful to maintain the centering using the toothpicks as guides…..clamping all along the edges.  Next is the batting…folded in quarters again and lining it up exactly as with the backing.  One quarter at a time, I unclamp, reclamp, and unfold.  Last to go on is the quilt top (folded in quarters again but this time right sides together).  Same deal - unfold, clamp, reclamp.  So now you’ll have the center of the quilt layered and clamped firmly.  Before starting to pin I just do a quick check to make sure that my layers are hanging such that my backing won’t come up short on one end.  If you do the quartering properly and have the backing and binding a bit bigger than the top from the get go, you shouldn’t have a problem.

I pin every 3 inches or so.  I use the nickel plated pins (because they won’t rust) with the bent arm (or whatever it’s called).  I don’t close them with my fingers…this will kill you.  I use a small flathead screwdriver to close them.  So, I’ll pin whatever’s clamped to the island first and then after all the pins are in, I’ll go back and close them with the screwdriver.

This only gives you the center of the quilt pin basted, so now you need to shift the quilt on the surface, without losing the integrity of how it’s lining up to your toothpick marks.  I generally unclamp one end of the island entirely and also halfway up each side.  Then I’ll slide the quilt up towards the clamped side (scrunching it up where it’s already pinned), and reclamp those clamps I just removed making sure the layers are flat and there are no ripples.  Then I’ll go to the other side, unclamp that, and straighten it out again.  I may have to do this process a few times to get the entire next section on the surface of the counter so that it can now be pinned.  I then have to go the other direction for the opposite side or sideways to pin the ends, but I think you get the general idea.  This technique enables you to do the pinning without anyone else helping you.  I’ve done all my quilts this way.

So for new quilters, my advice to you from lessons learned, is to read everything you can get your hands on, research on the net and bug your quilting friends.  Quilters love to share!  There's always someone or some place that has that one scrap of information you'll need to get you over the hump and have you taking the next step in your quilting journey.  

Next time...the actual quilting....how I did it and more pictures.