Friday, May 10, 2019

Machine Basting for Machine Quilting- FAIL!

If you are in the Humble Quilts Facebook Group, it's likely you've seen this. 

If I machine quilt I usually spray baste. My stars in a time warp was a large quilt so I thought I'd have it basted by a long armer and then quilt it myself. I have plans of taking this quilt with me to Ohio next month, so I thought I better get busy.

My plan was to do a simple cross hatch. That plan was stalled very quickly. I snipped and stitched, snipped and stitched. Made it through one row and started another. Snip, stitch, snip, stitch..... Okay, this is a bunch of crap.... 

So, I thought about my options, text  Diane Knott to see what her quilting schedule looked like. 

Laid it out on my bed and started removing the basting stitches. Took it downstairs later and removed my quilting stitches. 

Kevin couldn't help notice the threads on my Bible..... Casting out the thread demons!!

Packaged it up and it is now on the way to Diane. 

Even experienced quilters make mistakes!! 

Several of you have asked about the quilting in the last quilt, Road to Paducah. It was machine quilted with a long arm by my talented friend, Kathy McCarty. She can be contacted at this address- Mckatquilts@gmail.com  She is also the one I've made all 3 of those quilts with!! 

About the Quilt Exchange Linky
Linky party of the Humble Quilt Exchange will be on Monday.  Inlinkz has changed and I think now you need to have a inlinkz, facebook, or google account. If this is problematic for you try to drop it in my google photo album HERE and if you can share it from there, then that's great. If not, I'll post it for you. If you want to email me a photo of the quilt you received, that's great too. (please try to download it to my google photos first- that's where I put them too) ldej@crestviewcable.com is my email. 
We will be posting the photo of the quilt you RECEIVED. I will be out of town until late Tuesday, so please be patient if you are waiting for me to post your quilt. 
As far as I know only two quilts are stuck in transit. 

I'm looking forward to seeing all the sweet quilts in one place.
Here is my Instagram for this week.

Have a wonderful weekend!!



12 comments:

  1. Oh what a nightmare! And, thanks to Diane for coming to the rescue. Leave it to Kevin to figure out "the threads of demons"! I hope the rest of the process brings peace and happiness. It is such a gorgeous quilt!!

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  2. Looks like a bad experience, Lori. And I think you came up with a great solution.
    Loved Kevin's observation. :)
    I haven't machine quilting anything that has been machine basted, but I have had things machine basted for hand quilting. I really think that the one I am hand quilting now could be quilted on a machine without the headaches you had. In case you should ever decide to try it again--here is what I had done.
    My reading prior to having the basting done indicated that machine basting only needed to run lines going one direction, and they could be up to 6" apart. That way there are not threads to clip every couple of inches, going both ways.
    Also, the stitch length (3/8" stitch length) on mine was long enough to easily clip threads with blunt end, tiny curved scissors, but the tension is more snug. I don't think I would get the foot caught in a stitch if I tried it.
    Not that you will ever want to give this another try after this experience, but it might be a more positive experience with a few adjustments. :)

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  3. I thread basted one quilt for machine quilting - for the next quilt I bought basting pins ... How frusterating! This is such a great star quilt - it will be fabulous with Diane's quilting and you will be able to love it again :0)

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  4. I hand basted a bed-sized quilt once. Never again. While it did turn out amazing - no puckers, etc. I pin baste now, unwinding the top and bottom from 8' long painted baseboards while inserting the batting. No problems.

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  5. Have you heard of wash-away thread for basting? Works like a charm!

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    1. I think I used that when I was doing trapunto!

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  6. So sorry to hear about your machine basting experience but sending it to Diane was a great idea. Your quilt will be finished in no time :)

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  7. Lori, what a beautiful, vibrant quilt. Casting out thread demons! Ha. Love it. Blessings.

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  8. What a Pain!! I use my long arm quilter to baste quilts that are special to me, and that I am going to hand quilt. The first one had long threads which kept catching on the nuts and bolts of my frame. Nearly drove me mad. The second one I asked her to do with smaller stitches. Still catches but I am more careful shifting the quilt in the frame, which BTW is only a smallish frame on a stand. I can see how frustrating yours was with the foot catching! BTW I LOVE your quilt. Stars like that are on my " to do list"

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  9. bummer! but it will be AWESOME when done. It is such a great quilt

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  10. I have given thought to having quilts machine basted at the local shop. The price is no bargain and I can see it would be a problem if a person is planning to machine quilt.

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