Zig Zag Quilt Finished

I finished my quilt!  

I really do love it, but unlike the Amish, I did not have to piece something wrong to show that only God is perfect.  There are many imperfections in this quilt, mostly just in the quilting.  

I tried spray basting my quilt this time.  I had read how it is such a time saver and how much easier it is to quilt with and how there are no puckers in the back when its finished.  I thought it deserved a try.  I had a hard time getting it smooth and had to pull it apart and try again three times until it was right.  I think it had a lot to do with the method that I was using.  On my third try, I did it the way that made sense to me and got it smooth.  At that point, I didn't trust that the spray baste would hold since I had already pulled it apart so I also pinned basted.  All of that work did result in a pucker free quilt back.  I should also mention that the backing fabric is from Joann's from the Denyse Schmidt line, which I LOVE!  The line was on sale and there were a lot of new prints I hadn't seen before.  It's worth checking out.

The method that I had used to make the half square triangles also resulted in each square having a bias edge all the way around.  I had a lot of stretching in the pieced panel because of this.  The spray baste really helped me to get that area square and straight.  Even though this method made piecing fast and easy, I don't know if I would use it again because of the bias edge of each square.  I might use this method or this method next time.

Lastly, my sewing machine has sat on top of my Singer sewing machine cabinet since I got it since the hole in the table was cut to fit the Singer inside.  I quilted half of my quilt this way and was experiencing terrible drag and had uneven stitches because of it.  Finally, I called Phil and said it was time to retrofit my table.  He cut a hole to fit my machine and I put a board inside so that my machine would sit at the proper depth.

It's not pretty and looks a little "rustic", but my quilting went much better afterward.  I think a little paint might spruce the table up a bit , but it surely functions better now.

I really did love making this quilt and would recommend making a zig zag quilt as it was really fun.  I think finishing a quilt is like finishing a good book.  I'm always so excited to see how it turns out, but sad when its over.  The only cure is a new project.