Quilt 2: Making the "Sandwich"

The top has been pieced together and the backing (shown below) is ready!

My quilt is going to be quite large - nearly a king-sized bedspread. The bed I'll use it on is actually a queen bed, but it's got a very deep mattress, so I've opted to make the quilt larger so that it will hang well down the side of the bed.

The backing is made of 2 44" panels of solid cream quilting cotton - and a smaller panel placed between them to widen the backing enough to cover the full width of the quilt top. The batting (white fabric shown in a fold above) is a king-sized batting panel. Both the backing and the batting are a couple of inches bigger on each side than the top is.

This is done on purpose. When the quilt is finished and ready to be bound I'll cut away the excess. But for now, having the excess hang over will help to stabilize the edge in my hoop while I'm working on it.



I have an audience as I'm working. The lounge room area in front of our parrots' cages is the only place large enough to spread this project out (without having to move furniture). So as I'm working, George (male eclectus) and Laka (B&G Macaw) keep a close eye on me. Thank heavens they didn't decide to throw their lunch (fruit pieces) on my project...

After spreading the backing and batting, I placed the top over them and carefully smoothed it out, starting in the middle and moving outward toward the edges.

When I did this I found to my horror that one of my little triangles hadn't been sewn properly - and there was a HOLE in the quilt top!

I'm so glad I found it. If I hadn't, that hole would have worn larger and larger each time the quilt is washed... what a nightmare. I grabbed a needle and thread and fixed that on the spot. And I spent a little more time and carefully checked each and every seam in the quilt to see if there were any other goofs (there weren't). Unfortunately the correction causes the top to bunch up a little where the repair was made. I'm just sick about it, but I'm not about to pull the whole thing apart for that one goof. The patching will hold find when it's washed. And, in all honesty, I have to say that it's unlikely that anyone but me will ever look closely enough to notice it.




And here we go.. the first of 200 safety pins placed at intervals.

My quilt "sandwich" is done... ready now to STITCH!