Zoo

Thanks for the input Ladies, I realy appreciate it. It's comforting to know it's been done...while I was taking pictures of it all I could think was "Good God, what have I gotten myself into...it's HUGE!"

I'm quilting it on our dinning room table with extra support on my left of the quilt.
I'm using Warm and Natural batt, and think I'm going to try the 505 basting spray. (pin basting my lap quilt just about wrecked my back)
I do have a quilting plan for the rest of the quilt, it's just those large pannels I can't figure out.
What's a "meander"? Is that the "big head, thin neck" that Izy was talking about in her posts?

I might try taking better pix of it tommorow, the colours look very dull/dirty in the present ones.
Thanks again!
Zoo

Moonpi

I'm with Shelley on this one.

ScubaK

i would just do a diagonal from corner to corner
Making dimonds all over the quilt
K

k_jupiter

This was my first quilt.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/posts/list/2480.page

It's around 102x106. I did it on a Bernina 830. The first thing I did was stabilize the whole sandwich with thread that washes out. First a cross, then a couple of parallel lines both along the length and width. Once that was done, I went to my quilting thread and did all the diagonals. I finished up with putting geometric patterns in the large white boxes.

Piece of cake? Nope, but certainly doable at the house.

tim in san jose

Quilt4u

Very nice.

Elizabeth A.

Basting Spray is your friend, but do try to get help spreading it out. Spray the batting first, then unroll the back and then flip spray the batting again and unroll and press the top.

DH and I do it in segments, and move over the width.

sandpat

Yes, it can be done. I'm doing one slightly larger than yours on my little machine right now. I also set up the ironing board at table height to help support the quilt. Like Elizabeth...I just stuff the quilt through the hole until I get where I want to go. Rolling seems to make it too stiff and large for me to handle very well. The 505 will work out really well for you..start quilting in the center so that you can reposition if you need to with the spray. Just make sure you have plenty of extra batting and batting around your top so that if it slips a little...you won't be in a mess.

Good luck!

Zoo

This is all realy great info, I'm almost feeling I can handle this!
Tim - Gorgouse quilt, I love the colours and pattern, someone said "destined to be a classic" and I agree.

I went over the spray basting proceedure with the DH last night, I think we're going to tackle it next weekend. (after we move some furniture around!)
My only other 2 worries are:
- Should I stitch in the ditch around the pannels, frames and other bits before I do the other quilting? And then should I start quilting in the middle pannel and work my way out and around? I keep reading conflicting things in my books/mags.
- I bought a Clover "Chaco Liner Pen ", I thought it was the Clover marking pen that alot of people here seems to like, but it's actually a silver chalk, so maybe not? Anyhow, I'm going to test it out this week but I'm not sure (since it's chalk), if I should mark all the quilt lines first, or put the sandwhich together first.

Too bad ther isn't an "emoticon" for a spinning head, that's totaly how I feel.
And thanks again for everyone's input, it's realy appreciated!
Zoo

sandpat

Zoo. I don't know if I do it right or not, but I usually stitch my larger sections (that I'm doing in the ditch) first to secure them. Then after I have my "sections" secure..I go back and do my other stitches. I was advising you to start in the center because you said you were going to use the basting spray. I get my sandwich done...quilt the first line...take it out of the machine and flip it over to make sure the back is laying smooth...then I do the second line of quilting...do the same inspection thing...with the spray..you can easily reposition if you need to..if you have pins..it is a little more difficult.

Don't let your head spin off.... :wink: You can do it!

Elizabeth A.

Oh be sure to mark it after you baste it. I always feel like the quilt top is such a delicate thing. Once you have it basted it will start to feel like a real quilt, and will be more stable for all of your marks. :D Also with it being chalk you might smudge it when you're basting.

If it were me I'd do the outlines first too, so that the borders will stand out, but that's up to you because I don't think it will make much difference in the long run.

I've never heard of the Clover Pen, I use something different (that one of these days I will write a review on) but it should work fine, just be sure to read ALL of the print on the package.