Infrastructure Week 10 - Top Assembly

YAY!  We've made it through all the rows and now it's time to start assembling the top.  Don't worry if you're not quite ready with all your rows, since this week is a less complicated week there is plenty of time to work on any unfinished rows.  Don't forget to check out Christa's blog for more tips on top assembly and basting for domestic machine quilting.

Infrastructure Rows 1-9 with Anne (Bea)

I have some quick top assembly tips, nothing earth shattering, but hopefully helpful.  I typically assemble my rows by doing the first half, in this case rows 1-5, then setting that aside and assembling the second half, rows 6-9.  Then I sew the two halves together.  This is really helpful when pressing seams.  Pressing seams gets a bit cumbersome at the end of the quilt, and by doing the top in two halves you don't have that problem.  If you look closely at the picture below I accidentally assembled one of the rows upside down but I correct the problem before quilting my top.

Infrastructure - quilt top

After the top is finished it's ready for basting.  Christa has a great video tutorial on spray basting your quilt, but I am going to talk briefly about loading the top on my longarm.  One of the reasons I press all my seams open is because I use a longarm to quilt.  If you send your quilts out to be quilted your longarmer will appreciate the same.

Infrastructure Quilt

Every longarm is different, but on my Gammill I like to attach the backing fabric to the canvas by basting it with a 1" stitch on the top and bottom.  I don't iron my backings before I load them, but I smooth the backing and spray it lightly with water to remove any creases as I roll my quilt.  However, I do square up my backings before loading them.  I then lay the batting on the backing and smooth it out. Finally, I center the top and smooth it.  Using my channel lock feature I bast the top and sides of my quilt top, this helps me keep the quilt square.  I float both my batting and top so Gammill's quilt clips are a necessity.  This takes about 30 mins from start to finish to load, and then it's time to quilt!

GIVEAWAY TIME!  This week Hobbs Batting has again donated some of their fabulous batting for this our giveaway. Christa used her favorite batting for this project, Hobbs Heirloom Cotton/Poly blend.

Leaving a comment below is the only way to be eligible to win. This will be the same for each week's giveaway. Comments made Monday through Friday will be entered into a random drawing so please be sure to leave your name and email address where you can be contact if you win. Comments without contact information will not be eligible for prize(s). The winner will be announced the following Monday in our weekly quilt along post.

 

**CONGRATULATIONS** to Michele T for being our week 9 winner!! 

Don't forget to subscribe to this blog (Quiltachusetts) and Christa's blog (ChristaQuilts) to stay updated on the quilt along, giveaways and all our quilty adventures.  You can find both of us on Instagram, @quiltachusetts and @christaquilts .  Thank you!

"God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend. For He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth’; Likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of His strength." Job 37:5-6