Basting

I have accidentally incompetently made an ENORMOUS quilt top.  I hope this counts as a finish, as it's now basted and ready to quilt. It must be the biggest I've made so far - it grew after I decided add sashing to contain the triangles a bit, but from the get go I hadn't given any thought to suitable measurements [edited to add that this quilt started in a class taught by Fiona who designed this quilt and I got carried away with triangles]  It's for a single bed and now has ample drop!  Anyway, I thought I would share a bit of the basting process in the spirit of keeping it real.

First all the furniture/cat food/recycling bags/sewing machine got shoved to the edge of the diningroom which has a laminate floor (highly recommended to quilters as it's ace for taping down backings).  Then I had to vacuum about fifty times because we are the crumb and fluffball family and they tend to make their way into the gap between backing and wadding where they show through and reproach me for ever.    Do you ever look at housework and think "but didn't I do that already once?"

I will have to investigate other ways (other than to use a basting service:-)) for big quilts, but I do it by taping the backing to the floor all round, then taping the batting at the top, kneeling on the backing and shuffling backwards, spraying a foot section at a time with spraybaste before unrolling the batting and smoothing down. Repeat, until knees are creaking.

I tried not to worry about the corner that I couldn't lay out flat where it met the wall.

The top taped down and ready to go.

By this point I anticipated having to drop everything and clear it all away to collect the children from school but it got done in the end.

Hope the crinkles disappear with quilting!  I have a plan but am not sure how implementable it's going to be, given the size.

Sorry for northern hemisphere winter indoor photos.  I'm linking up to Finish it up Friday (Hooray!) even if I can't get a decent photo without taking it outside and dragging it in the mud.