I think you guys deserve an update on the quilt, don’t you think?

If you need to catch up, you can read more about my beginner quilting process here:

Part One – Deciding on a design and buying fabric
Part Two – Cutting the triangles
Part Three – Piecing the Top

So we left off last time with a finished quilt top. Next step: Make a quilt sandwich!

No, not a grilled cheese.  A quilt sandwich = the back of the quilt + the front of the quilt + the batting sandwiched in between. Delicious.

I kept the back pretty simple, using one of my favorite color fabrics from the front, along with some scraps of the other colors, sewn together to make 2 stripes across.  Since I didn’t have one continuous piece of fabric for the back, I cut 3 panels and threw some stripes in there to make it look neat.  The back and the batting are a both a few inches bigger than the quilt top.  After the back was ready, I cleaned the living room floor, and got started. I don’t know about you, but 2 cats and a dog make for pet hairs EVERYWHERE.

The back goes face down on the floor. Tape it down so it’s nice and smooth:

Then batting goes on top:

Then the front:

Then the beagle goes in the batting:

Wait…you can skip that step if you don’t have a beagle.

Then pin! Use curved basting pins, and make sure you’re grabbing all the layers.  Pin every 1/2 foot or so. Once you’ve got all the layers secured together, you can untape from the floor, and your sandwich is ready to eat! I mean, ready to quilt!

Yum.

Next post will be about the quilting process itself.