Moving Along .........Slowly

I am moving along with the framed 9 patch quilt. I got the left top and bottom sections together and I have all the rest of the sections layered up and ready to quilt. I used to get a lot more done, not because I was fast but because I use to have more time for quilting.

Warning!! This is a long post and may be boring,
I took some photos as I went along so I could show the steps I take when I am quilting in sections.

This is the center top section. I will quilt all the way to the edge on the top (the left side in the photo).
I will leave 2 inches not quilted on all 3 of the other edges. I have pinned strips of selvage along those 3 edges  to remind me not to  stitch beyond the 2 inches.  I once believed that putting safety pins across the area where I wanted to stop would work. However I just removed the pins when I stitched up to them and kept on stitching. I did it more than once until I started pinning selvage scraps or ribbon along in those areas.

My finger is pointing to where I will stop stitching in the ditch seam between the blocks. I will be quilting in the ditch around the nine patch center and across the solid diagonal patches. Later, after joining the sections, I will only need to finish the stitching in the ditch on that 2 inch section.

                  These next 3 photos show how I prepare the edge that I have left not quilted.

On the left I have folded the backing down from the edge where the quilting stopped 2 inches from the edge.
In the center I have turned the section over to the front and using my long ruler I trimmed the batting even with the quilt top.
On the right At this point the backing is still pinned out of the way. I have folded back and pinned the edge on the pieced top that has been left not quilted and I trimmed the batting. The measurement of the batting that I trim away is 2 x the width of my seam allowance when using my walking foot. This will allow the batting that is quilted to the edge to butt up against the batting that has not been quilted to the edge.  I always test what that measurement will be because I have found that it is not an exact 1/4 inch using the edge of my walking foot as a guide. Changing a needle will sometimes change the measurement. This time it was a little over 1/4 inch so I trimmed 5/8.  This might not be so important using 80/20 batting but with Warm and Natural I noticed if the batting overlapped.

I don't have a photo of the section that I quilted  to the edge. I trim the batting and backing even with the pieced and quilted top. I trim only the edge that I will be joining to the next section as I am ready to join the sections.  That makes me confident that I have an easy option in case I quilt to the wrong
edge on a section. For this quilt I am not really worried about that because  there are only 6 sections.

In this photo the section with the backing turned back is on top of the other section and ready to be pinned. Usually, I will have unpinned the folded back backing and trimmed it so that it can be folded under enough to cover the stitching that joins the sections. I would then pin it out of the way again. I do a lot of pinning and re pinning because I have learned a lesson the hard way about not doing it .

I pin first where I will match seams and then ease in the fabric between those pins,
 The edge that is not quilted will be slightly longer; if there are not seams to be matched I start pinning in the center of the  entire edge and on the ends and divide and pin by half  and half again in order to ease in any fullness.

This  photo shows the edges pinned together; the stitching will not catch the batting.













After I stitch the seam I always check the front to make sure it is OK before I move on to whipping the edges of the batting together.

I pressed seam to the  section that is stitched to the edge. I use a long needle, about 5 inches long, and catch the edge that is quilted to the edge and the loose batting from the other section.
You might seethe needle if you enlarge the photo.

It seems as though I do a lot of fussing around making the batting butt up against the next section but I am happy with the result.






When I am ready to hand stitch the backing to cover the joining seam I start pinning in the center and ease in the fabric as I did when joining the quilted and not quilted edges. The first time I quilted in sections I just started at one end and started pinning and stitching a short distance and then pinned again and stitched again, About half way down a very long seam I realized that something was not right. I would have ended up with tucks in the seam.  Hand stitching is much more difficult to rip out that machine stitching.

On the back I hand stitched the backing to cover the seam and it looked good. But I knew I had to find another way. It was way too slow and difficult and painful for my old hands.

I did not remove the hand stitching.

On the front, I stitched in the ditch on the joining seam between the blocks.  The seam here is between the 2 horizontal rows. It looks good!



I caught most of the edge on the back The arrows show where I didn't catch the edge and where I did.
If I use the same technique that I use for binding I know it will work. I will take care to cover the seam by just a little more than when I do the binding.  I might use glue instead of Wonder Under for basting,




I am moving on to quilting the rest of the sections and finishing the piano key borders. I ordered a subdued green fabric for an inner border and binding. I am hoping we get the snow the weather people promise us, even though I usually hate snow.