Daphne Throw continued

I finished piecing this quilt this morning.  Then I had to wash it and the backing.  While I did that I trained dogs and managed to piss away more time than I had.  Once it was dry I pressed it , using some spray starch.

The instructions merely stated "Piece your backing and then cut a square 60.5 x 60.5.  Honestly, I think that this quilt could be made with slightly less fabric than what she recommends.  It is nice to have some scraps for the stash, though, I guess.

It is always enlightening to make a quilt for the first time.  I would do several things differently next time. 

The sucker is on the frame now and I have made one pass with the meandering FMQ.  I would love to do something like flowers or feathers, but I am a novice and meandering seems to work for me.  I practice the feathers, but they end up looking like a clump of white blood cells under a microscope.  Not pretty.

I likely will run into a problem when it is time to bind this quilt.  The seam allowance at the peak of the contrasting diagonal boarder is about 1/2 inch, if that.  I will probably absorb that with the binding.   The things you learn by doing.

I had a boat load of trouble mounting the quilt sandwich.  I basted it with the thread to the cloth leaders.  That was a huge mistake.  I thought it would be better.  Pinning it is the way to go.  I also forgot to square up the back before I mounted it.  By the time I got the back basted and mounted on the rails, it was a little off.  I adjusted by pulling the excess into the hem and pinning.

I had to do that on the take up rail and on the feeder rail.

I decided that I would machine baste the top to the cloth leader .  That took about 7 minutes, versus thirty or forty hand basting the back to its leader. 

I do enjoy FMQ on the frame, despite the tedium of setting it up.  The Jeans Machine is not fast and I can get some pretty decent stitches with it.  This frame is not as smooth as my newer one.  Now I am inspired to get the bigger one set up with my Bailey.