You’re in the home stretch.  You’ve painstakingly pieced the quilt top, making sure all the seems match and the points are all sharp.  Now one last critical step before you begin quilting  -  sandwiching the quilt.   Just one wrinkle in the backing or batting – can ruin the whole quilt.  It really is true – ‘Quilting Makes the Quilt’.  So it’s important that you take the time to sandwich the quilt properly.

I like to stretch the backing in place on my cutting table with binder clips,

Stretching backing with binding clips

but masking tape works well too.

When the backing is smooth I place the bottom on top and gently smooth it out.

It helps to let the batting relax a bit before sandwiching either by fluffing it in the dryer on the ‘no heat’ setting or unfolding it, draping it over a table and letting it lie it flat overnight.

I like to pin baste when machine quilting and hand baste if I am hand quilting.  The layers seem to stay together by both methods with out slipping.

Now – I’m ready to quilt!

We’ve all heard that quilting makes the quilt!  – It’s so true!  When I sat down to machine quilt the Hopes and Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS, I had intended to do some meander quilting, but

Quilting motif

the quilt definitely needed  something more.  Hearts!   The  intent of the project is to ‘warm the life, the heart and the lap of an ALS patient…”- so what better quilting design.

In addition some of  the quilts will be used to raise awareness and research money for ALS -’Lou Gehrig’s’ disease.  They will be photographed, displayed, auctioned and/or raffled.

This Consortium charity project will also

Pocket Label

have a pocket label.

It was suggested that we write a  note to the recipient to put into the pocket.  I thought that this extra block would be a perfect candidate for the label.

My quilt is finished – and now just has to have the border sewn into place.

Last month I went to a meeting NYS Consortium meeting hosted by the Piecemakers Quilt Guild of Elmira, NY.  Members of our state guilds and businesses meet quarterly to share ideas, knowledge, & network .

The host guild always tries to come up with a unique gift for each one who attends the meeting.   The members of Piecemakers came up with one that is exceptionally handy:

A sewing caddy that cleverly uses a mug as its base and holds those ‘tools’

that you always need to have handy, but always seem to have to hunt for.

Mine now has a permanent home next to my sewing machine.  No more frustration searching for those necessities that make your quilting life easy.

Today the temperature was in the 80′s – unheard of for CNY on April 2.  – Not that I’m complaining – but I hope this doesn’t mean that we’ll have an exceptionally warm summer.  I’m not fond of 90 degree weather.   This morning our lilac bush and daffodils hadn’t begun to bud.

Lilac bush

Tonight the lilacs are starting to bud and the daffodils are in full bloom.

Daffodils

So we had take advantage of the weather and had our first lunch and dinner on our deck.  – Our favorite place to be in the summer.

Primrose

-  Also on the deck, I was able to work a bit on my Simply Charming applique and I found out that I can read on my ‘Nook’ in direct sunshine.  The screen is just amazing!I wish I had the same type of screen on my computer – it’s really easy on the eyes.Sunday it”ll only be in the 70′s.  It’ll be great to spend some of the day outdoors.  We normally aren’t that lucky on Easter!

I finally was able to get some quilting done last night.  Tom and I are preparing for two one-man photo shows at the Crawl Space, Little York NY this month, so the better part of the week has been researching the list for news releases and invitations.  I finally finished it up yesterday and the mailing and emails are now all done.

But – I did find time to work on the next ‘fat quarter’ quilt project.  It’s done with needle-turn applique.  – One of my favorite techniques.  It’s really easy (contrary to popular opinion) as long as you use the right tools.

I’m thinking that this piece will be prefect for the silent auction for the quilt show.  Then I will have an excuse to use the new fabric I found on our shopping trip after the last

Fat quarters on left; Border fabric on right

Consortium meeting. I just fell in love with the background fabric – then of course had to have some new fat quarters to complete the project.  Barb and I got together at the library sewing day and shared fabric for the border.  Its made up of various half square triangles – so you only need a small piece

of fabric for each block.

Now another wrinkle – I just went out to the mailbox and the smells of spring hit me like a ton of bricks.  – It’s supposed to be in the 70′s today – A perfect day to play hooky!  It will definite cut down on my quilting time.

However it’s still in the 40′s – so I’ll probably have time to make the quilt sandwiches for the two quilts I plan on machine quilting next.  I’m thinking that I will use a meander pattern on the ALS quilt, but the quilting on my Seasons quilt will be a little more challenging.

Quilt patterns for Seasons border

I’ve found some patterns that depict the four seasons – just perfect for this quilt.