I'm going to try this method with my Desert Sky quilt. I am never completely happy with spray or pin basting.....spray just doesn't seem to adhere very well to the wool/poly batting I use, and when I pin I always end up with some shift in the top that then requires repositioning of some pins and glue basting made my Juki throw a major tantrum.

i want my Desert Sky to be a wall hanging so I really want to do it justice so I thought I might give the board and thread basting method a try. So today I have pressed and starched my top and bottom and rolled them onto their boards. Tomorrow I thread my specially bought basting needle (tried ever so hard to look as though I knew what I was doing at the LQS when purchasing them and the embroidery thread......don't think I succeeded  ) and sally forth into the world of hand basting with a herringbone stitch . It remains to be seen if I survive the day or simply give up in disgust, reach for the red wine and the can of 505 which I've firmly shoved to the back inner depths of the cupboard.

So has anyone else used this method? what do you think of it? Apart from the obvious "slowness" of thread basting, it looks like a very tidy/compact (and comfortable) way of basting. I'm looking forward hopefully to having a very nicely secured quilt sandwich. Am I dreaming????

I always square my fabric before cutting my WOF but what about if I I am cutting LOF? How important (or possible)is it?

I've not been around much lately....what's the little @ icon I'm seeing that everyone is using? Should I be using it?

Oooooo I did like Ims' Twist and Twirl quilt so, with the yuck quilt finally finished and banished to a house far far away (well, at least 40 minutes drive anyway) I decided to have a play with Ims' May block of the Month. As luck would have it I scored a few metres of some different brown and cream fabrics from the local Op shop for about $5.00 and after much pencil chewing and finger and toe counting reckoned I' have enough to give this a whirl. I consulted Im on some measurements, poured myself a glass of red and set to cutting fabric with gusto. Yep, I needed gusto 'cause by my reckonings I'm going to need 216 blocks to do my quilt. And....oh no......it's going to involve getting up close and personal with........insert drum roll and gasps of horror.........triangles. And many of you may remember the anguish I have suffered in the past over these little wretches...yes indeedy. But it's okay...I've bought a few extra bottles of Merlot to see me through so I should be good...or at the least...pleasantly numb!
So here's where I am up to: All my pieces are cut out and as per instructions dumped into either the A tub or the B tub. My feature squares have all been cut out, and cut into triangles (yeuk..I'm shaking like someone has made me eat brussel sprouts). I am now halfway through chain piecing all my triangles to all my A's and B's. And for a bit of a boredom breaker I've stopped and squared some of the little suckers up as I go and they get to go into a pizza box.
I've got 3 days of work coming up now so it'll be a few days before I get back into it.

So the Bernina 710 is sold......it was a great machine but we never got on first name basis with each other and after not using her for over 12 months I decided she needed a new home where she would be used and appreciated. I have the Juki TL2010q straight stitch only which I love... it is great for piecing and quilting...has a terrific extra high harp space and powers through stuff like "no tomorrow". But I wanted a computerised machine as well (well, Mr.Ruby has several motorbikes so "when in Rome..."); something that could do a few "fancy shmancy" things as well as handle the bulk of a quilt ploughing through its harp space. I know, I know, the Bernina could do all that easily but....we just never fell in love with each other no matter how hard we tried!

I went to the AQC armed with my list of "must haves" and tried all the machines on show. And funnily enough, the one I thought I would buy after all my internet research failed to impress me with its stitch quality. I came home confused and disgruntled and headed back to the internet for some more research/grumbling/head scratching and came up with a shortlist of 3 machines, the Juki DX, the Skyline (Atelier) 7, and the Janome 8900 which is being superseded so was ridiculously discounted because otherwise waaaaaaay out of the budget. I also wanted to try stitching on my previous favourite possibility in the event that the "meh" stitch quality I encountered at the AQC was just a "one off".

Now comes the tedious part. Sewing machine shops are few and far between over here...I only had 3 within a 45 minute drive and cripes, I hate, hate driving unless I really really have to. The first shop I rung said they had the "meh stitch" machine for me to try so I jumped in the car and motored over in peak hour traffic dodging trams and wandering school children intent on not using designated pedestrian crossings only to be informed when I arrived that oops, no they didn't have that machine. So after stalking out the door (which I was not overly gentle in closing) I phoned shop number 2 who assured me they had said machine. So, another 40 minute drive and I'm at the next shop and yes, they have the machine and yes, this one sews dodgy to me as well. But fortunately they have machine choice number 2 and number 3 available for me to try ( I had tried machine number 1 a few days prior) but guess what? They couldn't get number 3 machine to work! It's little computer screen kept flashing a message that the saleslady couldn't understand. Now, to her credit, she offered to ring the sewing machine company to try to sort it out but by this time I was now dangerously close to getting a parking ticket and also "grandchildren babysitting" time. So, back in the car I get.

And like Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, I finally get to the last shop in my part of the hemisphere. sigh...they have machine number 3, I get to sew on it, fall in love with it and get it reduced a further $99AUS.  And that's how I ended up with a Janome 8900 and that's why I'm calling her Goldilocks!

Well, I'll confess right up front....the 5 little holes I have in the backing didn't get a label or fancy shmancy patches of some sort. I decided that my rather agricultural looking darning stitches will suffice, I may live to rue the day but meh, I'll be innovative then.....today I'm all out of "innovative" and "caring"!!!  The lint shaver worked quite well on the beardies though at certain angles there is the odd white fuzz here and there. I've told Mr.Ruby it is akin to the quilt having it's own etheral, other worldly aura and quite a special attribute for the quilt to have.  The texta marks are still vaguely present but have this afternoon become rather a feature activity for the grandchildren......."Find the pink marks before the egg timer runs out and you can have a chocolate!" Lordy, they're going to go home on such a sugar high when their father collects them this evening!! LOL

My tally was up to 10 hours, 2 needles and 4.5 bobbins of spiralling this thing and thinking rather smugly that I had valiantly climbed back up and over the "Hill of Despair" after surviving the texta incident (btw, I can still see the odd faded line or two of pink texta,sigh) and then bravely plunging into the world of "don't bother me dearest for about 4 days 'cause I'm spiralling myself stupid in my little sewing room"  when it occurred to me I should be checking the back of my quilt to make sure all is as it should be. So I flipped the sodding thing over and started to peruse it. Not bad; 2 small little puckers, meh, nothing worth unpicking stitches over.....yep.....all good....but  no, what's this?  And what's this? (Repeat this another 3 times and raise your voice with each repeat)    Cripes, I have 5 small holes in the backing fabric. They must have been there right from the start but were so small (about 1/4" round) I missed them..maybe I put them there, I dunno but there they are.     I've stitched over them in a rather odd haphazard manner with a hand needle and thread just to stabilise them for the moment but I'm guessing I will need to whack some sort of applique or patch  of some sort over them. What sort of hand thread should I use and would old fashioned blanket stitch be ok? The backing is a dark brown fabric.