I just figured out something I should have figured out a long time ago!

When assembling the quilt sandwich, I’ve always used three 6′ pieces of 1 x 3 pine. (I prefer the boards to pool noodles because their weight makes smoothing the fabric/batting easier). I roll up each layer on a board, then open out some backing, position and roll out some batting, then position the quilt top on top.

Today, I realized what I should be doing is uniting the batting and backing into a single layer which allows me to smooth the backing on the batting before rolling the one layer onto a board! Before adding the quilt top, I know my backing is smooth. Now, why didn’t I figure that out before?

Once I have the smoothed backing/batting layer on a board, I can start rolling it out, then position the quilt top and start pinning.

Creating the sandwich this way means I’m not struggling to keep the backing smooth when I’m pinning because it’s already been “attached” to the batting and all I have to worry about is the pieced top.

I now have my quilt sandwich pinned and ready to quilt. First, stitch in the ditch, then embroider each diamond. I can’t group the diamonds to be able to do fewer embroideries because each is 9 1/2″ vertical length and double that is much too large for any embroidery hoop available. So it’s one diamond at a time, I’m afraid, for all 200+ diamonds. The design I’ve created is a simple single run design – it’s purpose is just to hold the layers together. Each embroidery will go reasonably quickly.

I also want to share a video I came across today from the Missouri Quilt Company – Seam Ripping 101. In the video Natalie Earnheart “walks through what a seam ripper looks like, how it works, and how to use it.” Take a few minutes to watch; you’ll discover things you didn’t know about ripping out seams.

Now back to work.