I find basting to be the most tedious part of quilting. This weekend, I laid the backing wrong side up, then batting, and then quilt top on my tiny living room floor and got on all fours to pin baste the layers. NOPE. I discovered numerous wrinkles and was going to start over, but then realized I would be extremely late for my Saturday in the ceramics studio. And so when I returned home from mucking with clay, I put the layers on my dining table with the center on top and the extra lengths hanging over and ironed the middle and then pinned the heck out of it. I should have also spray basted, but no matter, NEXT TIME.
I stitched in the ditch and pondered what kind of stitching next? I had already decided I was going to both stitch by hand and with my domestic machine. Running stitch by hand for sure, but on the linen fabrics only? Or on the solid cotton blocks too? Matchstick quilting on the prints? Or free motion quilting? I probably should have started machine quilting the panel of four floral triangles that formed a diamond, but started instead stitching by hand the flax linen triangle and then the white linen triangle adjacent to the floral fabrics.
And yesterday was the first day of my work week and so after my day job and an orthodontist appointment, I started stitching the floral panel with my walking foot. It's already crooked. AAARGH. Not being in straight lines is okay. I chalked in new registry lines and will "hide" or overpower those crooked matchstick lines with other lines of stitching. There's also a few wrinkles. Again okay. I will quilt those folds to death. Just. keep. going. Just. don't. stop.
