Iron basting

When I am working on a smaller quilt my preferred method of pin basting is to do it at the ironing board.

Eddy likes to help

My Ironing station.

Backing and the batting.

The top.

Smooth everything and give it a good press.

I like to slide my little mat underneath to make pinning easier.

I love this tool for closing the pins.

After I pin what has been pressed, I slide it over, smooth
the backing.

Then the batting and the top and press again.  

The last section.  Make sure to take the mat out after you pin
each section, you do not want to iron with it underneath the quilt.

I like to use a larger stitch length for machine quilting,.

I keep a sample piece handy to test the stitch and tensions.

My hokey set up to boost up the quilt.

Rolled up and ready to go.

My favorite, wiggle quilting.

Both directions finished.

The finished baby quilt!

I found that this method works best for me.  Pressing the layers seems to make them stick together a bit better.  I found that my sewing room was so crowded with the big ironing board in there and I mostly just used it to press a few seams.  So I took the big board out and set up a small ironing mat on my table.  I put the big board in the linen closet.  So when I need to iron yardage or big stuff, I just pull it out of the closet and set it up in the hallway.  It makes much better use of my sewing studio.

For simple quilts I like to use variations of my wiggle quilting.  You can do gentle curves with a walking foot and going edge to edge, no threads to tuck in!

The baby quilt was finished in time for the arrival of our newest grandson, Scott!  He is so sweet!

This is my Off the Wall post for this week.  Check out what everyone else is doing at Nina-Marie's blog!

Rusty Nails

Wet PFD, vinegar and rusty nails and clips.

I spread out the nails and clips on the plastic.
Then covered it with the wet fabric. And then poured
some vinegar over the surface.

After one day.

I soaked the piece in salted water.

Hanging to dry.

The whole piece.

A friend of mine was inspired by a recent Quilting Daily post about a surface design Round Robin.  So she conned, er invited a bunch of us to participate.  I decided to start my piece with some rust dyeing.  I had done a trial of that a couple of summers ago.  Of course, I can't find the instructions that I used nor did google bring up the one that I used.  So after reading several other tutorials, I decided to try the vinegar method.  The previous time it used kosher salt.  I first wet thoroughly a half yard of PFD.  I spread out a piece of plastic (a used plastic birthday tablecloth from the dollar store).  I scattered a bunch of rusty nails and clips over the plastic.  I then layered the fabric over the rusty items, pressing down to make sure that it was touching as much as possible.  I doused the fabric with white vinegar.  I used the plastic tablecloth to cover up the fabric.  I didn't want it to dry out too fast.  I put some rocks on the corners, I had it outside so that the sun could keep it nice and warm.

I checked it that evening and it had dried out a bit, so I spritzed it with water and covered it up again.  The next day I checked it and it was still wet.  Later in the afternoon I decided it was dark enough.  I threw all the nails and clips into the bucket for the next time.  I rinsed out the fabric and then I put it to soak in a small bucket of salted water.  I did not measure the water or the salt.   I let it soak for several hours.  Then I rinsed it again and let it soak overnight in plain water.  Very little color was in the water in the morning.  The hanging to dry photo has a better view of the real color.

So now I will press it, put my initials in the corner and mail it off to the next person.  Our group likes to do the "no peeky" rule in round robins.  So I won't be able to show what I will do to everyone else's piece.

This is my Off the Wall post for this week.  Check out what everyone else is up to at Nina-Marie's blog.