Free-motion quilting, a tool to avoid and another to buy ASAP

Well there you have it. My first efforts in free-motion quilting. It for a tote bag I'm making for my mom for Mother's Day, based on this Sew, Mama, Sew tutorial. The quilting is far from perfect, but I'm actually pretty happy with it. It's turning out better than I thought it would. A lot of it will be covered by pockets, and my mom won't mind the imperfections since I made it for her. The colors are a little less Spring-y than I wanted, but I saw this fabric (thumbnail at right), and it was just perfect for the lining and pockets! The tutorial recommended using a home-dec. weight fabric for the outer shell of the bag, to give it a little more strength. I got this gold stripe on sale 40% off at Jo-Ann. The colors actually match my mom's living room decor, oddly enough, so I know she'll like them. Since I'm putting together the bag, my brother is going to help me fill it with gardening stuff as the rest of her gift.

Can you see how the gold fabric is kind of shiny? This means it is slippery! I had gotten these quilters finger grips on a whim at Jo-Ann a while back and decided to try them out. I didn't even get through quilting one flower motif before I gave up on them. They were slippery on the inside and didn't quite fit my fingers (especially my thumb), so the grip would sort-of stick to the fabric while my finger slid around inside. Not good. I'm curious to know what (if anything) you guys use to hold your fabric while quilting.

But on to one of my most favorite notions:

I don't remember where I read about the Kwik Klip, but it is an absolute lifesaver when pin-basting — or perhaps I should say finger saver :) After I basted my Happy Campers quilt (which, with y'all as my witnesses, I will start quilting this weekend), my legs and back were sore from crawling on the floor hunched over the quilt sandwich, but my fingers were prick-free and not the least bit sore!

What are your favorite tools?

Crossing items off the to-do list — feels so good!

I'm making decent headway on my to-do list from earlier in the week:

1. pinwheel sampler quilt-along block five
   
   
   
2. put together backing for Happy Campers
   
   I really hate cutting long lengths of fabric. I don't have a lot of table space to work with, so it's incredibly difficult to get it accurate. Luckily backing fabric is supposed to be a bit larger on all sides, so it doesn't matter if it's a little crooked.
   
   
3. baste Happy Campers
   
   I used the tutorial from Oh, Fransson! on making a quilt sandwich, and it really simplified the process. I had to stitch together (by hand — ick) two pieces of backing since I didn't buy it pre-cut. I had a 45" x 5 yd. bundle that I got on sale at JoAnn's a while back. I also decided to go with the tried and true and basted with safety pins. This is definitely one of my least favorite parts of quilting.
   
   
4. work on sashing for whirlygigs

The only thing stopping me from quilting Happy Campers is lack of thread. I want to use a beige/neutral color, but the only quilting thread I have is bright white.

I guess in the meantime I'll get to that sashing!

Oh, and in sale news: V and Co. is offering a 25% refund on your purchase at her etsy shop through the end of the week. Just mention "simply utah" in the notes on your order.

Use code "SEVI" at The Dizzy Daisy (an adorable fabric shop you should check out) for 10% off your order through the end of the day Saturday.

Use code "MM2010" at Connecting Threads for 20% off your purchase until the end of the month — this code is good on clearance stuff, too!

slowing progress, time for a change of pace?

I got one more row done on the Happy Campers quilt today. I'm so close to finishing the top I can almost taste it, but it seems the closer I get, the slower I work! I think I need to switch gears for a bit to get my motivation back. I'm dying to start a few other projects, but I'm still waiting for some fabric to come in before I can pre-wash. Since I have to pay $2.75 to wash and dry a load of laundry (no matter how small) at my apartment complex, I like to get my money's worth with a full load.

Maybe working on the back will inspire me to finish the top. I have decided to use the remnants of my jelly roll (below) to piece a strip to go between the two backing pieces.



I should also be able to use the pieced strip to sort-of "underline" what I'm doing with my leftover charm squares. I'm planning to appliqué "Happy Campers" on the back, using one charm square per letter. I don't, however, think I'm going to hand appliqué the letters. I'll most likely be ironing them on after the quilting is done, along with a label.

All this business on the back makes me nervous about getting the backing straight with the front. Usually my quilt backs wind up a little off kilter.

So I'm considering attempting spray-basting this quilt. I read the instructions on a can at the fabric store, but I was still somewhat hesitant to buy it. I don't have a whole lot of space to lay the sandwich out on the floor, and I have carpet, so I couldn't really tape the backing down like most tutorials advise. If the directions on the can are accurate, it seems I could smooth the backing over the batting, then flip and do the same with the top. It seems easier to only mess with attaching one side at a time. But I have no idea how quickly the adhesive bonds or how long the bond lasts. I would absolutely love to hear some of your experiences with different basting techniques — especially if you have tips for basting in small spaces!