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Monday, April 30, 2012

Feeling Loopy....

Over the weekend I did a bit of basting....


For years I only hand basted.  But with machine quilting and the discovery of safety pins - I have converted from hand basting to pin basting {sort of}.   Hand basted stitches get in the way with Free Motion Quilting - they get caught in the foot and pull.  Yikes!


Most of the time, I actually use a combination of basting techniques.  I usually lightly spray with temporary {basting} adhesive and then pin baste.  I like the smoothness of the basting spray, but I don't trust it completely to hold my quilt in place until I am finished quilting.  Crazy right????

I did decide with this quilt to take Nicke's suggestion....she said I deserved a quick finish....I like that thinking :)

This will be a shoppe sample so I used my usual Denyse Schmidt Loopy Quilting Design...hee hee!
It is very simple.  The most difficult part is keeping the lines of loops straight....

    
To keep my lines straight - I use masking tape to mark my stitching line.  

  
   Normally, I move the tape with each line of stitching....but last night I did a couple of rows without the tape and had a bit of an oops....a little drifting at the end of a row.


But I decided it wasn't critical enough to unpick all those stitches!
For the back of this quilt I am using a fantastic organic fabric - new to the shoppe!


cleverly pieced had to piece a top spotted border on the back.  When I cut the fabric I did not take into account that the flowers had stems and a direction.  Another oops! 
But maybe it was a happy accident....I love this spot fabric with the floral.


I am quilting with Gutermann 100% cotton in Natural....in both the top and bobbin threads.

Happy Monday All!
mary

21 comments:

  1. Wow - it's beautiful! And I love the quilting. I may have to practice that loop for next time I machine quilt!

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  2. It's so beautiful! I especially love the quilting. I think it's perfect for this quilt. Great job!

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  3. This is looking fantastic Mary - I can see how you keep your lines straight but your loops are also standing up to attention!

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  4. I'm obsessed with this quilt, but I'm terrified to try it myself! Is it going to be on the class schedule any time soon?

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  5. Thank you for sharing so much about your basting.
    What a beautiful quilt! Love the contrast of the perfect triangles and the lively loops...

    ; )

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  6. I have looked at this DS pattern so many times. Your quilt is just wonderful! I think the basting is the worst part of quilting. But I like your combo of spray/pinning. I'm determined to sandwich some quilts together this week--maybe a marathon session to get it over and done with, to move on to the fun part of the actual quilting.

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  7. Love the contrast between the fabric points and the quilting loops! Brilliant! The backing fabrics are gorgeous! And of course I love those spots! Amazing!!

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  8. I love all your quilts. Even the ones that are someone else's pattern, take on a different quality when you do them. Somehow, you make them your own.

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  9. So beautiful! I just tried spray basting for the first time the other day and I had to use all my will not to pin it too!! It worked out ok though I do love pin basting! I got so sick of moving them when I was doing fmq and it certainly makes quilting much easier, I think I might stick to the spray (when I can afford to!) xxx

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  10. Just lovely Mary...love the loops!

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  11. Once again, I have caught my breath. So beautiful. So the bottom of the loop sits on the tape for each row?

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  12. Yay It's fabulous!!!! Loopy Loops are so perfect on this quilt!! I've never tried the basting spray, I worry that somehow everything would stick to the wrong bits, but I like the idea of a light spray and still pinning.

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  13. loving your loops and your oops!

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  14. Lovely quilt! And lovely quilting. I wish I was a more confident machine quilter.

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  15. Really nice quilt! I've been watching your progress and it just looks great!! I like the loops for the quilting, too.

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  16. When my daughter, Megan, quilted her first (and only) quilt last year, the loop is what she chose. It turned out really cute....and we didn't even know that it was a DS cool kinda thing to do!! :)

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  17. oh mary! it is so beautiful! seriously so so beautiful! i am so glad you machine quilted it. i bet it feels so good to have it done! thanks for mentioning me. it made me smile!

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  18. I usually use basting spray and sometimes pin the edges. I also use Gutermann. Recently I purchased some Aurifil I've used it once and its nice I don't think I like it better than Gutermann.

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  19. i LOVE your quilting loops... i'll have to give it a try!

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