Quilting the Layers

I use a magnetic square to lay my tying needle on between preparing the ties. I take end of yarn to the right of my quilt and do a running stitch where I want to make a tie, going to the left end of quilt,then pull enough yarn to make ties and cut each length of yarn and tie. Easier than doing one tie at a time. I also use a large "party" balloon to pull the needle through.

When basting my project for quilting, I thread the needle and then leave the thread on the spool rather than cutting and knotting. This eliminates the constant stopping to thread,cut and knot and makes this step much faster and easier.

To audition your quilt designs on your quilt before marking your quilt top audition your designs over the quilt top first.  To do us start with the correct sized piece of clear plastic sheeting (the type used for furniture and/or table covers available in most general fabric stores or hardware stores).  It's a good idea to have the plastic just a few inches larger than the section of the quilt your are working on.  Lay the plastic over the quilt top, either on a design wall or the floor or a table.  Using a washable marker you can audition design ideas for quilting on the clear plastic and with the quilt as your background you will have a good idea about what the finished product would look like.  If you don't like something you can wipe away the designs and start over.  When you have a design you're happy with then transfer the design using your favorite method to mark the quilt and begin quilting. 

Instead of buying the expensive machine quilting gloves from the quilt store, I head to my local store instead. They have gardening gloves with sticky dots on them AND only per pair. They work exactly like the expensive ones. So save your money for more fabric!

I buy latex gloves [the ones like nurses use] at the druy store and cut the tips of the fingers off then use them one at a time on my first finger when hand quilting, it makes pulling the needle so much easier. Nana10

Use Glad Press and Seal for easy quilt marking. Trace your pattern onto the non-sticky side, It's transparent so you can see where to place it on your quilt sandwich. It sticks firmly to the fabric and after stitching, it removes easily with no residue. No pencil or other marks to remove either.

I take a pair of surgical gloves [you can buy them by the box] and cut the ends of the fingers off, I put one on my first finger when doing hand quilting and the needle is so much easier to pull through, no slipping.

When quilting a quilt sometimes I will use my digital camera to record a picture of what i have done on my border and quilt to make sure i can get the whole thing accurate.   This saves time by not having to draw out a picture or go back to look at what I have done. 

I use the drawer liners with the adhesive backing to cut out my design patterns for quilting. I can move them and the adhesive sticks where I put it without leaving marks. this way I can do different shapes in my quilting and they look good from both sides of the quilt.

When doing machine quilting, keep a pair of tweezers handy.  Put the needle down and hold on to the top thread and bring up the bobbin thread, and use the tweezers to pull the bobbin thread out to the top of the quilt material.  Then take a locking stitch or back stitch 2 stitches and you are set to go.