Step by Step

This morning I laid the 4-Patch Shirt Quilt out on the living room floor and enlisted the aid of bottled cranberry juice, some marble bookends, an old Native American grinding bowl and a couple cans of fruit to hold it down.

I had pre-rinsed the Hobbs 80/20 batt and it was dry and ready to roll out. You can't see it here but the backing is what's left of two Calvin Klein 100 percent cotton sheets that I got on sale 80 percent off a couple years ago. I had already used them on two twin size quilts and had to piece the remnants to make a back for this one. (I love our south windows in the fall and winter...the sun streams in and makes the room feel so cozy!)

In my early quilting years, sheets were not recommended because they were a pretty tightly woven fabric that was difficult to needle if you were hand-quilting. However, today's cotton sheets are softer and I've used them successfully on several quilts.

When doing meandering as I am on this quilt, I begin the machine quilting in the center and work to one edge, quilting an area a couple feet wide. When I get that swath quilted to the border I turn the quilt 180 degrees, begin at the center again and work to the opposite side. Then I turn the quilt 90 degrees, go to the center, and quilt to the sides. Then I fill in the corner areas.

Leona (as I have named my Singer 201) does an admirable job of quilting. It has a knob underneath with which I can lower the feeddogs. The plastic darning foot that I purchased several years ago has quilted many a quilt and is still working well.

This quilt is a very large twin or could be used as a full. If I am working on a queen, I roll the side that is under the arm. It's difficult but not impossible. Wearing the garden gloves is a tremendous help in holding and moving the quilt.

If I am using a design that is repeated in the blocks, I just bunch the quilt up however is necessary in order to work each block. My pin basting seems to hold things pretty well in place. (I place the pins about 6 inches apart...maybe a little more if I'm running out of pins.)

This quilt is entirely recycled shirt fabrics.

Well, am I embarrassed. Doris in TN kindly observed in her comment that this machine is a Singer 15-91 which is quite obvious because of the tension being on the faceplate and not on the side of the machine facing the seamstress. I really DO have a 201...it is sitting on a shelf in the basement and it looks very similar to the 15-91...except for the position of the tension knobs.