Hi Mary! I thought that might be you!! I definitely remember your beautiful Christmas Baltimore quilt, and your delightful husband! Maybe you can post a picture of it on your profile for others to enjoy!

I am also working on a Civil War Bride's quilt! If you are not aware of the on-line groups working on the CWB quilt, send me a PM and I'll send you the links!

I do hope you decide to join TQS as a Star Member....there is so much information available that it's well worth the money!! Hope to see you again!

Hugs,
Margo

Ooltewah! We met at Lavender Lime a few weeks ago when I brought in my recently-completed Christmas BAQ-style quilt.

You are so right about this lovely forum on TQS. All things TQS are very nice, though I'm not too involved in posting pictures, comments, or even a decent profile picture. I really, really enjoy the weekly puzzle.

I recently let all my quilt magazines expire so a TQS Star membership may be in my future, though I just spent this year's savings on a Civil War Bride pattern this week. I have no business starting yet another quilt, but this one excites me in that very special way only another quilter would understand.

Mary

Mary, where is SE Tennessee are you???

Hadn't thought of a long-arm quilter as a quilt layering/basting option, a great idea indeed. Knowing my husband, though, he'll follow through on his suggestion as the can-do spirit lives strong within him. I'll be sure to share when it happens, and take pictures, too. I daresay that not many quilts are layered on garage floors scrubbed clean by helpful husbands.

Mary in TN

What a sweetie your husband is!! If he changes his mind, you might want to contact a long-arm quilter and have them baste it for you!

My next hand-quilting project to go under the needle is a mammoth-sized wedding quilt for my son and daughter-in-law that measures 101 square inches. Layering that behemoth had me concerned as there aren't too many church halls, quilt shops, family rooms, etc. able to accommodate the time and space and manpower that layering such a beast requires. When I mentioned this dilemma to my husband, he generously offered to wash the garage and layer it with me, however long it takes. Now, isn't he special?

Mary in Southeast TN

i use Sharon Schamber technique to batting my quilt.
i have 3 table surface from ikea, and 6 table foots, i hide it most of the time behind the curtains, when i need it, i clear my living room and my eating corner, i put those 3 'tables' and use 2 long wooden bars (See sharon schamber technique) the only thing, that i do different is that i spray glue and not sew the batting.
last quilt i did was broader then the tables so i had one shelf from one of my cubed (with SS technique you need aprox 20" only)
good luck

Thank you all for the advice, that's one of things I love about this site. I also have the small space problem,so you have given me some great ideas and as I am nearing that point on the Stars for a New Day, I definitely will try something other then the floor. Happy Quilting, Pat

Thank y'all so much! I am reading the responses and I really think the problem is my heavy batting. I'm using Warm and Natural cotton and I think when I move to anything larger than double size, I'll just move to a different batting. Thank you for helping me out.

No one mentioned Sharon Shamber's technique for basting quilts. She uses 2 rails and can baste a quilt on a table. I use my Flynn Frame rails. Part of the success is from heavily spray starching the backing and lightly starching the quilt top. Then when spreading them out and rolling them on the rails, they stay very nice and flat and smooth. It's easy to roll a foot or so out at a time and baste. She has videos at her website. Check it out! It works great. I used the technique for a king sized quilt and had no puckers on the back at all.

Nancy in western NY State

I think it doesn't really matter, Margo. I bet there are lots of TQS members who read this thread and find it very interesting.

FWIW.....I'm not sure that Ann Tilley (who made the original post) is still participating. She's only made two forum posts so I'm not sure she has come back to see any of the responses.

Avoid using cotton or cotton blend battings for large quilts as they are very heavy, wool or lightweight polyester are easiest to handle in the monsters . Also, think about making your quilt with the quilt-as-you-go method, you quilt blocks or panels as you go along and join them all together at the end. Shout if you need advice on techniques (or Google or uTube for the answer)

I have a cutting table from JoAnn that has 2 drop leaves, so it folds down to about a foot wide and 3 feet across. Usually
there is one leaf up and I use that for cutting. When I want to baste a quilt, I roll the table out more, pull up the other leaf, and
center the backing/batting/quilt on the table, clamp it down, pin the center. Then unclamp, move it over, repeat. It doesn't take
that much time or effort, and it spares me from getting down on the floor. It's worked for queen size quilts. Kathy