Saturday, June 11, 2011

Sandwich Phase

I finally finished the last 16 Storm at Sea blocks needed to get the top of my king-sized bed quilt to a comparable size to the backing.  The backing is still 6 to 8 inches longer around the edges, but that's okay, because I'm planning on using that extra backing fabric for a border.

There's just one problem...

The entire quilt is wider than my quilt rack.  Here you can see fabric overflowing down the side of the quilt rack.  Normally, I would pin the backing and quilt top to muslin leaders and roll them up on rods, but that won't work in this case.

Plan B?

Put the sewing machine away and hand quilt, just using the rack as a place to drape the fabric. I'll probably start by tying the backing, the batting and the top together just to keep it stable, and then I will use a wooden hoop to draw sections of fabric taut for more intricate hand-quilting. Any guesses on how many more years this phase will take?