Next I taped my pressed backing wrong side up on my kitchen island and I used the painter's tape to secure it to the countertop. Usually I baste on my dining room table and use binder clips to hold my backing, but this backing is not that wide and it fit nicely on the island, so that is where I did the basting. (besides, the dining room table had fabric on it!)
In this picture, I think you can see how I have taken rather long pieces of the painter's tape and I have secured the backing on both sides and also at the top and bottom.
Once the backing is taped, I give it the "pinch test". I try to pinch up a piece of the backing off the table. Hard as I try, I can barely pinch 1/4" off the table. That tells me I am good to go, proceeding with basting my batting on to the backing.
I take my Warm and Natural Batting (recommended in the pattern) and fold it in half lengthwise. I lay that lengthwise down the center of my backing. Using 505 spray, I carefully stand at the edge of my island and spray from the edge closest to my body, toward the batting. I move quickly down the island until on half of my backing is sprayed. Then I smooth the batting over the sticky backing and repeat the process on the other side of the backing. I just fold the batting back until I reach the sticky part and spray the backing fabric. Then I smooth out the batting and I am all ready to go.
I used 2 (6" x 24") rulers "end to end" to measure up from the bottom of my backing and marked a line according to the pattern instructions. I found a blue chalk wheel worked really well for the marking.
Once my marking was completed, I slipped a rotary cutting mat underneath my backing and used my rotary cutter and ruler to trim the batting.
Next I grabbed my Jelly Roll of Sanctuary (2 1/2" strips) and headed to the sewing machine!
I followed the instructions for the quilt to the letter, except I used a different quote in my quilt. I used "Sweet Dreams" rather than "Mother" or "Sister" or "Friend". As I was stitching my mind was going crazy with all the variations of this quilt I would love to do. How about smaller in baby fabrics with the baby's name and birth date and weight? Or in bright kids fabrics for a child and have their name in block letters? Or for a guy in masculine fabrics? It could say "Dad" or "Son" or have any sentiment. (Happy Birthday, Happy Retirement, I Love You (in any language), Hero, Army, Navy, Air Force, etc. with patriotic fabrics). Does that happen to you? Does your mind just go crazy with possibilities while you are sewing? Please tell me I am not CRAZY! Once the quilt was finished I opted for some Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) rather than the suggested grid quilting. Grid quilting with a walking foot is surely easy enough but it is not "me". I'm a curly swirly girl. Rich and I did a little video for you, showing how to design a curly quilting design for this quilt. I hope you like it. Please feel free to post comments and questions! Click on the arrow to view it:
Sweet Dreams Quilting Demo
Lisa
