....... that I finished the 'row'quilt ages ago and simply forgot to tell you. Oh dear, it had somehow got lost in the to-do pile, so at the weekend, I got organised to finally finish it. I ironed the backing fabric and stuck it to the table with masking tape to keep it taut
Next I added the wadding, then having ironed the quilt top, I spread it over the wadding and, starting from the centre, smoothed it out so that there were no wrinkles
Several dozen pins later, the quilt was ready to be stitched
As always before starting a new project, I cleaned the sewing machine. I had only used it to do the baby quilt, but it is amazing how much fluff collects in the workings
I've put a bobbin beside the pile of fluff to show just how much there was ....... if you don't clean it out regularly, you can damage the machine
I also put in a new needle, and filled two bobbins - I love the little picture which comes up on the screen when you engage the bobbin winder
As I am using different threads top and bottom, I made up a sandwich with some calico and a piece of the wadding I am using
and stitched a trial line - as you can see from the little dark dots, the bottom thread is coming up to the top, which means the tension needs altered
after a bit of adjustment, the dots disappeared, and I was ready to start sewing
The first part of the quilting is simply quilting in the ditch along the seams, to hold the quilt together, before I start doing more decorative quilting. When I start a line of stitching, I bring the bottom thread up to the top, so that it doesn't accidently get caught in the stitching on the back - I also do it at the end of every line as well
By the end of the afternoon, I had quilted the central section of the quilt - as in the ditch quilting doesn't really show on the front, here is how it looks on the back!
Remember to leave a comment if you want to be included in the draw for the giveaway to celebrate my 8ooth post - Malcolm will randomly pick two winners on Friday ...... one in the UK and one abroad.