Trying out Quiltak Basting Tool

I've had the Quiltak Basting Tool for a while however I haven't finished a quilt top to try it out.  I decided that Flowers for Alison would be perfect for test it out.... I like to live on the edge.  

As I have said before I like to use voile on the back of my quilts it makes them lighter and the backs have a soft silky feel.  I am also using Quilters Dream Cotton Batting which is very thin and light.  

There was a bit of talk on Facebook on one of the list I am on that said they thought that this Basting tool would be no good for a large quilt but I beg to differ.  I think the problem probably is that people are afraid to put too many taks in the quilt.  When I pin a quilt I use a lot of pins which means the quilt is really heaving and I have all sorts of problem with my back and neck when I quilt.  I have spray basted quilts for a while now but the spray baste just doesn't like the voile and I have had a few quilt back look less than perfect.  In fact North and South was half finished and I unpicked the quilting and then pinned the quilt to get the finish perfect so that I could send it to the magazine.  

I used the same notion with the Quiltak.  As you can see above just in this picture you can see 3 taks. I used all the taks that I got with the gun on this one quilt, I think over pinning is better than underpinning and dealing with a tuck in the quilt back.

The great thing about the taks is that you don't have to remove them like you do with safety pins as you stitch, they just seem to manoeuvre out of the way.  I'm going to invest in the special scissors to cut the tags out when I finished.  

So how did I go about basting the quilt.  I have a nice fold out table that is perfect for basting a quilt I prepared the three layers by centring and stretching the backing and securing to the table with large bulldog clips, then layered the batting and finally the quilt job.  Smoothing each layer and securing with the bulldog clips as I would have done if I was pin basting.  I did toy with the idea of pinning first, but then I decided I might be able to get my hand under to use the basting gun if I removed one or two bulldog clips at a time and kept the fabric taught with my hand under the quilt.  

Now the needle is quite sharp but I only managed to spike my self a couple of times.  The strip of taks feed in the top.  You push the needle through all three layers and press the trigger then pull the needle out.  Its kinda fun to do actually like that feeling you get when you pop bubble wrap.  Its not as quick as spray basting but quick than pin basting and less hard on your hands.  

The extra weight of the taks is negligible and the taks don't get all caught up together like safety pins do.  I've stitched around the appliqué of 3 blocks already with no hiccup or puckers.  So I give the Quiltak 5 stars for a job well done.  

and its a wrap

North and South

This quilt was published in Handmade a couple of months ago, it is now available in my shop for instant download if you missed it and want to make it.

The quilt was made using my Tula Pink Stash and probably has about 100 fabric in it.  It is a great stash buster scrap quilt.  I honestly didn't think to much about colour placement just made sure that the individual hour glass blocks were light and dark.  This is one of my favourite pieced quilts that I have made.

This Years BOM

I've decided to push back the start of this years BOM till August.  I've only drafted 1 block however the plan for the quilt is pretty much finalised in my head.  The reason is that I want to finish Flowers for Alison and quilt it as I am going to enter it in a comp this year, something I have never done, it isn't a guild show just the Royal Agricultural Show but it is a big step for me way out of my comfort zone.

I'm just over half way through the leaves on the quilt, so the left half of the quilt is looking pretty spectacular.  The problem is my wrist and shoulder are getting really sore with all the stitching, but I am hoping I can keep up the pace so that I can baste the quilt the weekend after next when I have a sewing day with some girlfriends planned.

Here is a picture of the quilt from this morning.  The top half is all finished.  Each corner is quite unique and I love the spontaneity of the design.

Since writing the top part of this post I have been having a think.  Back in 2010 I designed and made a quilt called Bee Inspired it was my first appliqué pattern.  It probably should have been released as a BOM as the pattern is quite large and was quite expensive for the time now most large appliqué patterns sell for $20+  It has never been for for sale in pdf download format.  I haven't decided how many months it would go for minimum 4 probably 6 and will probably end up running simultaneously with the new BOM. This will give me some of the breathing space I need to finish Flowers for Alison.

So what do you think any one interested.  Same conditions as my usual BOM free for a month and then $3 per pattern in my Etsy Shop.

Questions About Borders - Flowers for Alison

I have had a couple of questions on Facebook and Etsy about the borders for Flowers for Alison.  The various options you can try are listed in the Border Option sheet which you can download from the BOM page on the blog and is an automatic download on the Pattern for month 7 when you purchase the pattern.  I have had to keep the listing as 7 separate patterns as there are so many files to download and it is easier that way.  The total cost for all the Patterns is $21  which I think is pretty reasonable as there is a lot of work involved.     Please note that my borders are mitred but I haven't given instructions to mitre the border as this is the first time I have done it and I am in no way and expert.  There are tutorials on the web.

There are no templates for the borders as these are templates that have been used in the centre of the quilt.  The vase from block 1 and the bowl from block 7 are in the corners and just use your favourite flower templates to fill in the spaces.  The vines are made using 12mm, 9mm and 6mm Clover Bias makers.  

The vine placement is really organic.  I just put the border on the ironing board put dots of roxanne glue on the bias and ironed the bias trip down just curving it this way and that.  I put down the basis then add the flowers, if I though there was a bit too much of a gap or not enough flowers in one section I simply added a bit more vine stem and stuck another flower on.

The original intention of the BOM was only for the centre section of the quilt which was how I ran the last BOM and then gave you options for how to finish the quilt.  This has come about because I never want to make a BOM the same as the original and I figure other people might be the same.  This time there are options for smaller sized quilts as well as the original which will be queen size.  There are also instructions for cutting the borders if you have directional fabric or if you are happy to have joins.   My next BOM will be run similarly.

New Website

I've started a website for my Etsy Shop.  You can get to it through Seabreezequilts.com.au

I'm trialling the website for a bit.  There are links down the bottom to all my social media and blog but it makes it easier for people to find my shop this way.

Flowers for Alison Progress and next BOM

I am hoping to do more regular blogposts going forward, my other writing gig has paused for now.

Here is a photo of the progress for Flowers for Alison if you follow my Instagram and Facebook page you will get more regular progress.  Now that the first corner is finished and I am liking what I see, I more inclined to power on with the rest of it now.  I'm up to stitching the vines on the two corners which weren't previously done, which is boring as hell and I can't wait to start stitching flowers.  It amazing how much the appliqué was lifted once the leaves got stitched in place.

I've been thinking about my next BOM because July will be here before we know it.  I just purchased 25cm of Jen Kingwell's new range Behind the Scenes and I think that will be the basis of the backgrounds for the next BOM and I am going with Appliqué and Piecing again this year I enjoy it more than just straight piecing.

I have a total of 8½m of the fabrics and my initial thoughts are pieced backgrounds with pieced borders round each of the blocks.  The range is a mixture of grey, whites and creams which I think will give a lot of movement to the blocks and I will team it with lots of bright appliqué because that is my thing.  At the moment I am thinking 9 blocks all of uniform size.  Once I nut something out on EQ I'll give you a sneak peak, but at the moment it is all in my head.

I will leave you with a picture of my favourite notion at the moment, Roxanne Glue in this handy squeeze bottle which means you can suck the glue back out of the needle and it doesn't get clogged  up which is my main gripe with the other Roxanne Glue bottle.  Roxanne Glue stays soft and it is easy to stitch through even if you get a bit too liberal with it (especially on the stems).  The only way they could improve this squeeze bottle would be if they made them refillable.  

I'll leave you with some funnies I found on Pinterest.







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