No Pictures, Just Plugging Along...

I've spent the last couple of days basting quilts-for-hire. Did you forget that I do that? Yeah, so did I. ;) I haven't done many quilts this year, but since I've signed up for Asilomar in late May, I need to cover the expense.

Yesterday I basted three quilts. Two were medium-sized, the third is a biggie. I believe it's 85" x 106". I got to the very last corner, and saw that it was not square. The owner had admitted to some "issues," particularly in this corner, but I didn't realize how noticeable they were until I was almost done basting. Groan. I fussed over it for a good 30 minutes before deciding that this was how she'd given it to me, I shouldn't worry about it.

I finished basting the quilt.

I flipped it over.

That was about as much fun as flipping over "Fish Dance" and finding the bleeding.

This time I found a wrinkled back. This has only happened to me once before, and it was when I first started machine quilting. It hit me like a ton of bricks: I'd run out of masking tape, and had substituted painter's tape. Painter's tape doesn't stick well to fabric. It peels up.

Because the batting overshot the backing, I hadn't noticed that the back had pulled loose and had a party while I was merrily inserting and closing pins.

Vicki W? Did you hear me in your neck of the woods? I was NOT happy.

I removed a 15 x 106" swath of pins over the most offensive ripple and repinned it. It didn't make much difference.

This morning I went out and bought masking tape. Then I spent 2 hours removing pins. I am currently in the process of pinning the quilt again. I've been at it for two hours. It will be another hour or so before I finish. My fingers are tired, sore and getting stiff. whine, whine. I should have known better.

But now, you know. You won't make my mistake, and you'll know why. PAINTER'S TAPE DOES NOT ADHERE TO FABRIC. DO NOT USE IT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

It doesn't matter if you've got lots of painter's tape in your house and Lowe's is 10 minutes away. Take the time, make the trip, and buy masking tape. You'll be happy you did.

You may now return to your more enjoyable blog-surfing.

P.S. I almost forgot. The reason I mentioned the goofy corner was that when I had to unpin the entire quilt, I had time to study it and figure out what had gone wrong. The quilter had inserted a wedge instead of a strip when she cut a corner too short. That made the angles of the miter wrong and everything went wonky from there. I took it apart and reassembled it. 1/2" made all the difference.

How would you feel about that? If you made a top and gave it to a quilter, and it had a corner that you knew was not right... would you mind if she fixed it for you? I hadn't planned on doing it, but since I had to unpin it anyway... Her parting instructions to me were to "make it beautiful"...