quilting commences

I exchanged the "sticky" batting, as per suggestions by my dear mother and aunt, both of whom would know better than I. The husband, aka harp engineer, aka dress engineer, aka crazy rocket scientist thought this was a pretty good idea as well. He seems to think that I have "issues" with adhesives, largely stemming from the evening that he came running to the rescue as I shrieked and jumped about in circles after super-gluing all of my fingers together. Happily, I didn't quite glue that hand to my leg, but it was a very close thing. Um, where was I?

Ah yes, new batting. I got low-loft bonded polyester batting, just like my "quilting for you and your hamster too" book suggested for a newbie like myself. And then I did something absolutely shocking....I actually tested it.

I spent much of Sunday afternoon basting the quilt layers together. Shockingly (again), I actually read the directions in the book before doing it, although I have to admit that I adapted the basting layout slightly to a hybrid of their two suggestions. I can't ever leave well enough alone and it seemed like common sense. The rocket scientist wandered by while I was doing this and commented that common sense is generally based on experience and that a wise man once said that experience is generally gained just after it is needed. Hmmm.....

I'm working on the first (center) star motif. I'll take a picture once I have enough to see a bit of. I actually think I'm kinda getting the hand of the rocker stitch. I think all the hand-stitching I did on costume work is helping a lot. It's not all that different except that I'm trying to get the back side to look nice as well.