Gone Fishin - Quilting Completed

I finished my Gone Fishin quilt over the weekend.  I combined two different quilting designs to the quilt. One was a repeated single fish that came with the free designs of the HQProstitcher and one that a friend (Hi Linda) made for me of a few random bubbles.  I quilted the whole thing with the fishes first and didn't like the "space" between the fishing poles and the fish above.  So, I asked my friend to help with digitizing a few bubbles.  I did not want lines between the bubbles so I asked for jumps between them all.  I knew that meant a lot of snipping threads between each bubble on both front and back.

The photos above and below show the end results.  It's always difficult for me to photograph the quilting. I hope you can see it a little.  In addition to the fishing pattern and bubbles patterns, I also placed random singular bubbles everywhere.  One other thing, of course I did not line up the patterns and had extra space at the bottom of the quilt.  So, I added some water waves at the very bottom for the fishes.

I have had this quilt top for a while.  It is a memory quilt of my brother's TShirts.  He loved to go fishing down on the Outer Banks.  He especially loved going over to Ocracoke Island and hanging out at Howards Pub.  If you are ever down at Howard's Pub, tip one for "Mike". 

Thanks for stopping by!  
~*~Trish~*~

Trish's Tools - Joining Batting Pieces with Batting Tape - Part 2

I spent the day yesterday quilting up a T Shirt quilt that I have had the top for a long time. I'll share photos of the full quilt sometime later in the week.

So I quilted through the "Heat Press Batting Together" tape with my HandiQuilter.  It worked like a charm.  No thread breaks that were out of the ordinary.  No gathers where the tape is located.  I give it a thumbs up, A+ and I'll surely be using it again.  Saved me from having to buy more batting for a smaller quilt.  

Here's some photos.  If you stare long enough at the one with the green box, you might convince yourself that you see the tape.  Really, I can not pick it out from the front or back of the quilt.  Only where I can see the ends sticking out waiting to be cut off.  To see more detail, click on the photos to enlarge.

Thanks for stopping by!  
~*~Trish~*~

Trish's Tools - Joining Batting Pieces with Batting Tape - Part 1

When I first read about this "Heat Press Batting Together" I thought what a great idea.  I hurried up and bought a few rolls since I have so many batting pieces that I said "someday" I would make potholders since they were not big enough to complete another quilt with.  I have some rather large pieces that would be perfect for my lap quilts if I could piece them together.  

Once I got the protective cover off of the roll, it was as simple as prepping the batting but cutting straight edges and ironing.  First, I found two large pieces of batting.  I'm using Hobbs Heirloom cotton batting.  I placed the two large pieces together and cut a straight line (OK it wasn't perfectly straight) so that the ends will butt up together. I then placed them end to end on the ironing board and then placed the Heat Press Batting Together tape down on top of the batting in a small section at a time and then pressed the tape with the iron.  

Seemed to be holding so I continued down the full size of the batting.  Looks pretty good.  However, i decided I wanted the tape on both sides for "extra" insurance since it was for a quilt.

I flipped over the batting and added a second strip of the tape and ironed every couple of inches as I laid the tape down.  Once I was done, I was very impressed.  It seemed to hold tightly (I was so tempted to pull on both sides but I thought that would be pushing my luck.  I gave it a light tug and was holding well.  It seemed to be even with the rest of the batting so same height.

Next steps is to load it on the quilting frame and machine quilt over it.  So, stay tuned for Part II.
Thanks for stopping by!  
~*~Trish~*~