Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Pins, Pins, and More Pins


I'm ready to quilt my 10 Little Things Baby Quilt...but first it needs to be taped down and pinned.


I don't know about anyone else, but seriously, taping my quilt to the floor and then crawling around on my knees and elbows to pin is not my favorite thing to do!


But that's what needs to happen if I'm ever going to get anything finished.
At least, until I can convince my husband that me getting a longarm would be a good idea!


And my favorite part is the HUGE ball of sharp, open pins that I get to manhandle!


I just hold that big mass of pins over my quilt and shake the loose ones off.  My kids think this is really cool.

I haven't been able to find a better system to keep my pins more separated and easier to get to!  I put them back in my little tin opened because it saves time while I'm quilting, and then again when I'm pinning them into a new quilt.


Or does it??

Does anyone have a better method of storing and retrieving pins?



I think maybe I got a little carried away with my pinning!  There's lots of intersections with these HST's, and I don't want anything to move around!

I'm still trying to decide how to quilt this.  Something circle-y?  I'm leaning towards some straight-lines...but I can't decide if I want to follow the graduating diamonds outwards, or maybe something diagonal through the diamond rows.  Any ideas?

7 comments:

  1. Every time I get on the floor I think I need a long arm machine too. I also keep my pins the same way. I don't know of another way to do it either.

    I am about to quilt a quilt very similar to yours. It is on my machine right now. I am going to use every other seam as my center feather line with one side(your whole brown row)quilted as a feather. but the other half of the feather (your 10 things fabrics) is going to be more ferny. So I plan on following the diamonds.

    Can't wait to see how you finish yours!

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  2. You SO need a long arm.... look on hinterberg's website, I have the voyage17 and summit frame and it's "cheap" compared to the BIG boys.

    what about quilting a corner to corner curve on the colored parts, not sure about the black, if you want to go back with black thread and quilt something else like your lines would look aweseom and easy enough on a domestic machine, straight lines are a pain on a long arm :-)

    how big is this quilt and did you just use charm squares and black fabric? it's SO cute!

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  3. I keep my pins (closed) in a tin. I don't think there is a better way. Abe you could make a voo doo doll to stick them in?

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  4. I laughed when I saw your pins thats how mine look. I have done mostly small things and last couple we did on a table in the back yard as laying on the floor kills me

    http//richardquilts.blogspot.com
    http://trackmyshows.com

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  5. Since I've figured out how to machine bind my quilts, pinning is now my least favorite part of making a quilt. I store my pins closed in a plastic container. I always have trouble figuring out the best way to quilt something. I'd do some kind of straight line quilting on this one but I'm boring like that!

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  6. I agree pinning and crawling around on the floor are my least favourite things associated with quilting but oh so worth it in the end. I always have difficulties in deciding on how to quilt something so am not the best person to weigh in here. I'll be interested though to see what you decide.

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  7. I love straight line quilting, and I love it when the quilting sort of echoes the piecing but opposite. So, I'd probably do a big X between the corners, then echo those 90 degree angles out to the sides (so the only intersection would be in the middle). Does that make sense?

    I can't wait to see how you decide to quilt it. :)

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