Tuesday, March 13, 2012

No waste of batting - use those pieces up!!!

My log cabin quilts came back from the long arm quilter last week. She kindly returned the extra batting. Since two of the quilts had the same type/loft of batting I was able to sew the two pieces together to make a larger piece of batting that fit the guild's mystery quilt perfectly.

I use my walking foot, the widest zigzag and lengthen the zigzag to the maximum on my Janome 6600P. You do not overlap the batting edges. That would cause a bump and would not be good inside a quilt. I just bump them up against each other and feed them carefully through the machine. Voila' almost free batting!!!!

 Here is the "wad" behind the machine all stitched. See the seam?

 I used pink thread. In fact, I had bought a bunch of the John Flynn So Fine for piecing. I really like how it feels in my machine. But it cannot handle a good hot pressing. It melts away. Ask me how I know. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

But it works very well for quilting. It feels as if it is like a size 60 type sewing tread so it also fills the bobbin up quite nicely. The bobbins last longer with finer thread wound. My Janome 6600P works nice with size 60 in the bobbin and King Tut on top. It also likes Bottom Line and any thread on top.


Some fast pinning up and I am already quilting the mystery quilt.

Hey! It needs a name...any thoughts???

Dear Daughter #2, Laura, has already claimed this quilt. Well at least she moaned and groaned with joy seeing merely a picture of it. That is her shorthand for I want that quilt please. Her birthday is in May so I am going to gift it to her.

My math was off and the backing was not enough to do my leftover pink/brown topper. And there also was not enough batting either. I guess fate just said I was to keep that one for me and my sweet kitties.


I rarely get puckers when I pin baste. I feel the trick is to use LOTS of pins. I also use my B-Line quilt frame to do the pinning. There is no bending over or crawling on the floor. I can pin the backing on, float the batting and top and have a quilt all pinned in an hour or so.

I watched a DVD on Baltimore Applique' by Elly Sienkiewicz. She has a pleasant voice and makes the process look so easy. She was teaching needle turn applique'. And cutting away the top fabric as she sewed. I so want to learn applique'. This process seems to have the least prep involved. And that seems to be my issue. I have only so much time for hand work and drawing has never been my forte'.

XOXOXOXO Subee

6 comments:

regan said...

Great post, Sue! I like that sewing together of batting pieces.....I need to do that with all my strips of leftovers. And I never thought to pin baste a quilt on my roller frame.....I'll try that! Thanks!

Ruth Ann said...

That's how I do my batting. I usually save my piecing for the smaller quilts such as baby or lap quilts. I can usually use up a scrap or two of batting and have a batting for one small quilt. love your mystery quilt and the crocheted vest further down in your posts.

Kim said...

You can't go wrong learning from Elly. start small until you get the hang of the how it flows and your hands get use to the process. You'll master it in not time at all.

Happy sewing

Anonymous said...

Sue,

You will love applique. I thought I would not ever be able to and now you can't stop me. I also have Elly's DVD and have made more Family Album block pillows than you can imagine. A family photo printed on fabric in the center circle is just the personal touch it needs.
SueW
Upstate NY

Laura said...

Hi Subee! The little bit of applique I have done has been enjoyable, but I just don't like the preparation process. Please let us know how it goes. Also, can you comment on your B-line? Do you ever use it to finish your quilts or do you prefer sitting at your machine? Just curious. I have so many tops that need to be quilted but I just don't like wrestling them through my old Bernina.

Vic in NH said...

Thanks for another very informative post, Subee!