Basting when it's beastly

This is the back of my woobie quilt that I pieced this morning.  (In the background you can see the roll of gorgeous Kaufman decorator fabric I scored at Hancocks.  I'm making some café curtains for Anna's office.  More on these in a later post.)

The big table on the screened porch is great for basting large quilts, so even though it's supposed to be 98 degrees today, I'm anxious to get started.  Thread basting takes a lot longer than pin basting, but with a quilt this large, thread basting is a must. I can work for about 20 or 30 minutes, then I have to go inside to cool off and drink gallons of water. And, yes, it is hot enough for me.

The upholstery needle doesn't show up in this picture, but that's what I use.  I'm planning to do the quilting pattern that Denyse Schmidt designed for the Single Girl pattern.  I got a thread that is in the same color family as the little dots on the background fabric--a sort of brown gold.

"Single Girl" Support Group: Marking and quilting

I have hand quilted each of the three "Single Girls" I've made differently.  The first one (Anna's wedding quilt) is quilted with a sashiko embroidery design called the seven treasures of Buddha.  I ordered an extra large 360° protractor to mark it.

The second one (Jim's woobie quilt) is done in the large meandering or stippling stencil.

For the third one (Henry's baby quilt), I'm going to do the design recommended in the pattern.  The photo above was taken during the basting process.  I tape the back down to the table and mark the center of the backing with pins, then I can line it up with the top.

Now it's all basted and ready to be marked.

I decided to make templates of the quilting design.   The inner four were small enough that I made a templates of the entire shape.  After that, I only made quarters.

Here are the little ones.  I marked the center and the four seams to help line them up.  I use a little chalk wheel to mark because it brushes off easily.

Here's the center marked.

And we're off to the races!