Saturday 30 July 2011

Crazy Daughter Quilt Complete

And here she is!


This quilt is called Crazy, not because my daughter is crazy!  No, crazy because the patchwork technique used to make the blocks is called crazy patchwork - one of my favs because you get to use up all your scraps.

This was a first for me using basting spray, and I have to say it made the quilting of this large quilt much, much easier under a conventional machine. 

I quilted diagonal lines through the blocks & wavy lines through the sashing.

A few down sides to using it are:

1. It's not cheap at £7 a can (& I used 2/3 can on this baby) 

2. My LQS told me to spray a section at a time and iron the quilt top down on to it as you go (& same again for the back).  Tricky enough with a large piece on a small ironing board and not letting bubbles of fabric appear.  But made more tricky if you have a hairy, thread covered carpet like mine, as the large quilt, drapped over the ironing board somehow managed to pick up lots of extra threads which I was forever picking out of the spray glue!

Note to self: Hoover carpet before spray basting, and don't start it at 10.30pm at night when you need a bit of muscle power to work with it!

Apart from that, I would definitely recommend spray basting quilts, especially larger pieces.  You get a slight stiffness to the quilt, which is what makes it easier to quilt, but then you MUST wash the quilt afterwards (I'm not a huge fan of the 'wrinkly goodness' look to washed quilts I'm afraid, but no biggy for the benefits of easier quilting!).


So I guess I can now remove the Crazy Scrappy Quilt-a-Long button from Aneela I've had on my sidebar since April! 
 
Job done, lovely quilt, happy daughter (who's really not crazy!).


Quilt dimensions:  Finished size 50" x 70"
                           Block size 11" x 11"

9 comments:

  1. Beautiful quilt and I am sure your 'not crazy' daughter loves it. I too have a hairy, thread strewn carpet so will keep your advice in mind if I ever stump up the money for spray basting.

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  2. Its fab! I've got some basting spray, used it once and cant remember why I havent used it more often!

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  3. It came out just beautiful-- your daughter must be very happy!! Aneela's Crazy Scrappy quilt block is on is on my [extensive] list of things-to-do. Congrats again on a wonderful finish!!

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  4. Oh wow! those purples and greens are fab together, and love the quilting too. I am a big fan of basting spray but have never ironed it..I spray one half then smooth it down from the middle outwards, then fold back the other half and spray and smooth in the same way.. know what you mean about getting threads stuck to the batting though! (especially with a white top, they show right through...grr!)

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  5. And it is indeed a beautiful quilt! Well done. Happy daughter indeed. My son is still waiting for his quilt....guilt look. Have a good b/h weekend. Fi

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  6. What a beautiful finish to this quilt Judith! Hope the least crazy of your amazing daughters loves it!

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  7. It's lovely!! Glad you got to spray baste it - I love that stuff - must be the chemicals!

    Oh, I gather the crazy gene has skipped a generation then! xx

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  8. This turned out beautifully!

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  9. I love the quilt, and the quilting is perfect!

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