Pink/red/blue side
My sister loved the pictures of the birthday quilt that I sent her a couple of days ago. The work still isn’t done, but here are a few pictures of both sides with the full design and some details.
I’m currently working on the assembly and quilting part. I’ve done this before, so I knew what to expect, but this time it’s a little harder because it’s double-sided and I have to make sure that the designs line up the right way. I’ve therefore basted one side of the quilt to the batting, and now am about to attach the other side.
Green/red/blue side
The usual instructions in quilting books and on websites say to attach with safety pins first, then baste by hand. That’s what I’ve done, and it works pretty well. What really gets me, though, is that out of all the advice and instructions in a book or on a site, the assembly part only gets about a page or two of text and rarely merits a picture. That can be a real shock when a first-time quilter comes to do the assembly, and realizes that even after the hours and hours they’ve spent doing the patchwork, they still have a huge amount of work left. It takes at least an hour to safety-pin a bed-sized quilt together, and about 2 hours to baste by hand – and you also have to find a big enough floor space for it all to happen. I wish more quilting publications focused more attention on this stage.
Detail of green/red/blue side
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Wow. I’d no idea you had so many safety pins.
It can be frustrating when you need direction and can’t find any. Looks like a lovely quilt though. Good luck and if you have any questions along the way: email me.
It’s a beautiful quilt. I’m sure your sister will love it.
Geraldine