Thursday, August 16, 2012

"Sendin' out an SOS..."

*This post is brought to you by the song 'Message in a Bottle' by the Police. Rock on.


This quilt may look small and cute, my friends, but I took this photo from the 2nd story. That behemoth is 95"x108". I need a kitten for scale. Please feel free to give me a kitten for this purpose. And for cuddles.

So how do I quilt it?! And no, not what design do I quilt on it? I mean literally, HOW do I quilt it. My machine has a whopping 5.5" of throat space. I'm no math whiz, but I do realize that 5.5 and 95 are not the most compatible of numbers.

Things are about to get reaaaaal creative around here.

[Spoiler alert: I've already started quilting it. I've only torn out one chunk of hair so far. And there's only been one major pucker. I need to learn the secrets to perfect basting...did you hear that basting gods?!]

**PS, thanks for all the super nice words about my Winterkist gnoma advent calendar. You guys rock.

19 comments:

  1. When I run into this problem I hand quilt it! I did one a bit smaller than yours and just went around each square on the inside. I love how it turned out. But it took forever and killed my fingers for a while.

    How are you quilting it now? It looks wonderful. Now I want to make myself a huge patchwork quilt too....

    P.S. you have great taste in music.

    ReplyDelete
  2. oh my gosh - that is BIG! Good luck! And I really mean that! (love the palette btw!)

    ReplyDelete
  3. oy vey! good luck! i'm sure it'll come out great!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I was also going to suggest hand quilting....but it would take you a really long time!

    As for basting, I switched to spray basting and absolutely love it. I was having some issued with puckering and have found that the puckers have disappeared since I started spraying. GOOD LUCK!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hmmm...may the force be with you?

    That's the best I can do as far as advice. ;)

    Have you ever tried basting with thread? My mother-in-law swears by it for large projects. I hear spray basting is good for small to medium sizes, but not ideal for really large projects like this.

    ReplyDelete
  6. If you figure out how to do perfect basting, let this chick know. LOVE the quilt top! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good luck! I'm about to have the same problem when I start quilting my 72" x 90" quilt! I am terrible at basting! I just got some basting spray that I'm going to try but let me know if you figure anything better out!

    Your quilt top is beautiful by the way!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow that's big! I'd say send it to me to quilt, but you've already started! I've done big quilts on my home machine, which has a bit more harp space but not much. My only advice is to only tackle it for an hour or two at a time at most and make sure you have lots if ibuprofen.

    My big suggestion for basting is to find out if your local quilt shop has a basting space. Most do and they'll let you move their class tables together and baste on the tables. No crawling! Everyone will want to see what your making so there's always extra hands to help with getting the batting nice and flat. I always find that with a big quilt having someone else help with tugging the creases out of batting really helps!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I budget the cost of long arm quilting into my projects. I'm a piecer... (Seriously after spending $ on fabric, time on cutting & sewing, I don't want to ruin it - or never finish it... But that is me.)

    ReplyDelete
  10. That is SO gorgeous! I would hand-quilt it, just so I could keep touching it.... :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. #1 love the police :)

    I find it helps to set up my machine on a bigger table so that I don't have to wrangle quite as much.

    Looks great though!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. a) Love your quilt! b) Please tell me how you finally tackle it because I have a tiny machine too and my friend wants me to make a queen size quilt for her... I just keep staring at my machine with a worried expression wondering how I can ever get that to work.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Second story - dayum gurl! A friend of mine just did a giant quilt on a machine with tiny tiny throat space. She did straight line quilting but at a diagonal to make a giant cross hatch; also she used the spray!!!! She said it worked wonders and I am pretty sure it was 80 something X 90 something. She also is looking to get rid of some kitties - so that could help you out too! If you have q's for her she blogs at http://sewhungry.blogspot.com/
    love the colors!
    cheers and good luck!
    k

    ReplyDelete
  14. I don't have any suggestions for quilting a top that big - I would be wondering myself! I am curious, however, the secrets to perfect basting. I pin baste and do my best, but still get puckers - it drives me crazy! I haven't tried spray basting yet, I might give that a go. Your quilt top is really pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Holy wow, that's a big one! If I had a kitten I would definitely let you borrow it for picture taking. :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Pins are good for basting. You'll maybe need one for each square...work from the middle outwards and take your time when pinning. I know some people clap theirs to a table when basting to get it as flat as possible to prevent any puckers. I here rolling large quilts is an effective way to help with quilting =D

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wow, you know it's big when you need a picture from a window (that's what she said)... anyway, yeah I recently had the same problem, I did loops and some FMQ leaves (which was more frustrating than I anticipated) but I took a lot of breaks! That is my advice!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'm curious to see how you pulled this off. :) I'm guessing it just takes lots of patience, moving the quilt around and rolling it, and more patience. Am I close? ;)

    I just finished an 80"x80" quilt (I know, bizarre size) and I tied it, but that's because it's a beach blanket and I was in a hurry. I've yet to quilt anything bigger than a baby quilt! Someday soon though...

    ReplyDelete
  19. And as for basting, I don't have any secrets, really, but I usually do a combo of spray and pin. I use a LOT of safety pins. It makes me feel secure. :)

    ReplyDelete

Messages from friends :)