It might be that Ricky doesn't 'trust' the spray basting to cope with all the manouvering that he does to get this quilt through his machine. For a large quilt going through a domestic machine that is an awful lot of re-folding and creasing (as I am sure you have found out now). It is a bit of a 'belts and braces' method. Also he might be only doing a very light spraying of the spray baste adhesive and thus wants it reinforced with the machine basting.

As for hating basting - join the rather large club, it is a boring part of the preparation that doesn't feel enjoyable, and it all has to come out afterwards BUT and it is a rather large but, if you don't spend the time on it it needs, your finished quilt suffers. This is probably why there are a lot of quilters who are actually just piecers , because they have a large pile of quilt tops awaiting basting before they can be quilted.

hmmm......that would make sense.

I do think Ricky did it with a regular machine, but of course that video's gone now.....

(now, if only I could convince my husband that a long arm is a needed thing all just so I can baste more easily, LOL!)

I am probably VERY WRONG on this but when I have heard about machine basting, it's usually been in the context of having a quilt basted using a midarm or longarm machine. I don't remember what Ricky said in Grand Finale about spray and machine basting so I can't offer any more of an explanation, but look forward to what others have to say about this topic.

I have heard many talk about machine basting with wash-out thread, and I have a question on that --- if basting is to stabilize the quilt so that it doesn't distort/etc when going to the machine, then, ummmmm, what keeps it from distorting/etc while machine basting????

I think Ricky said in his Grand Finale video he uses a spray baste to secure it enough for the machine basting, but would not use/rely on that for actual quilting.....? I feel like a dunce, but what's the difference?? If the spray baste is enough to hold it while machine basting, which is still running it through the machine, how is it not enough for just go ahead and start the quilting????

help me understand this please......

and, while we're on the subject, what spray baste do you use, &/or what pins for basting?? I *hate* basting. Hate.It. I suspect because I do not have the right tools for the job. So, fill me in