Just a few considerations when planning a quilt....

Give me a clothes pattern any day, quilting requires a different kind of planning, and all new rules.

First up, when planning your quilt, it would behoove you to make it in a size that will take advantage of the standard batting sizes.  If you're starting out, it might not be a bad thing to have scraps about, so you can use them for practice, but I don't like to be wasteful.

Plan for a standard size...

These are some of the standard sizes for quilts

 Crib   45" x 60"

Throw 60" x 60"

Twin   72 x 90"

Queen  96" x 108"

King   120" x 120"

Then you have to take into consideration the 4" they ask you to add on the sides, to both the batting and backing fabric.  So my quilt top was 56" x 64", and my batting and fabric would need to be 60" x 68".  Fortunately I had a king size batting remnant from my niece's quilt and I used that.

The alternative to the standard sizes is buying off the roll.

Plan your batting stash to complete your kit sizes...

To make matters more complicated, when I was squirreling away supplies, I would purchase random batting to test them all out.  Most of them are twin sized, most of my quilt kits are queen sized.

The nice thing about having done quilt no. 1, and throwing it in the washing machine a million times now.  You see how it wears, and how it softened.

It shrunk, and the texture changed, it still looks pretty good considering what it's been through.

Then.... it was pretty stiff here

Now, it's very soft, and the unstippled squares are crinkled.

The quilting on the log cabin will not be this dense.

Quilt making has a lot of variables, and for me at least, keeping things simple might will be the best course of action.

Onto the progress....

The sandwich was made on the floor, employing some wide painters tape.

The backing was slightly stretched, not too taught, but enough to get the wrinkles out.

The batting was gently rolled over it, and the wrinkles smoothed out.

Then the top was laid upon it, also gently, and the wrinkles smoothed out.

I placed a long straight edge on the sides and tried to square the top as best I could, so that the blocks would be straight and not twisted.

Then used the Kwik Klip and some curved quilting safety pins to start pinning at 4" intervals.  This is the first time using the Kwik Klip and it saved my finger tips.

I'm still playing with the quilting design and trying to decide, just how much is going to be done.  I have set a target for myself of the end of the week, which for me will be Sunday.

The blocks were all stitched in the ditch, so the individual blocks have been outlined.  I later went in and stitched in the ditch, just the first outward strips, forming squares on the back of the quilt.

I think this is good practice for me, for manipulating the quilt under the throat of the machine.  Four blocks have been completed, but there has been a fair amount of unsewing, because I lose track of when I should turn.  I'm sure there's an easier way to do this, but I will forge ahead, hoping to get better as I go.  For the record, I don't recommend doing it this way....  but can't think of another way at the moment.  I even considered hand quilting, but I want to have this finished sooner rather than later.

The other consideration was thread.  I've used a thicker embroidery thread in the bobbin (Floriani Embroidery 40 wt), and a thinner quilting thread on the top (Bottom Line Superior Threads 60 wt).  The topside is grey, the bottom dark navy.  So far, very little pulling of the lighter color to the backside, which I think is just lucky.  The other benefit is that when I have to unsew a section, if I pull from the backside, the thinner thread pops out easily.  I hope this doesn't show up as a problem later in the wear of the quilt, so far it's been a benefit.

Unsewing

I have to take advantage of the light and get back to work... more progress to come.