Musical Angels Quilt Sandwich

I'm ashamed to admit that I have not done a lot of sewing / quilting lately because it has been just too hot. For the last week or so our daily temperatures have been in the high 90's and low 100's, but with the high humidity, these temperatures are even higher! For the Pacific Northwest, this is very unusual. I don't consider myself a wimp, but I found myself whining every day, wishing for cooler temperatures.

The temperatures were much cooler this morning and I took advantage of it and began working on creating a quilt sandwich with my musical angels quilt. At this phase of your quilt, it is important to prepare your quilt correctly or you run the risk of ruining your quilt and watching your hard work disintegrate before your eyes. I don't think there is any quilter out there who hasn't made mistakes. Even experienced quilters. We all have our favorite ways to create a quilt sandwich and I'm going to take you through mine.

My first step is to iron my quilt top and backing. I prefer not to use steam during this process because steam adds moisture to the fabric which can result in distortion during handling. With my iron set at cotton/linen, I begin to press the quilt top and backing.

Next I find the width and length center of my backing by folding it in half lengthwise and marking with a glass head pin on all sides. I repeat for locating the center of the width.

For this quilt's backing, I chose to use a pin on each side of the center back because it happened to be at a seam.

I've marked the center on my cutting table using a piece of painter's tape. By matching the centerback of my quilt backing with this mark, I will ensure my quilt top is centered on the back and batting. There is nothing more frustrating than to get everything laid out only to discover you're too short on one side and have to start over again.

Here is the backing centered on to my cutting table.

I use 1" binder clips to hold the backing on to my table. This will ensure the backing is taut and remains centered. You want your backing taut so you don't have bubbles after you've finished your quilting. Although it is taut, you don't want to stretch and distort your backing.



Using the same process, I've added the batting to the backing. I know some people pre-wash their batting, but I choose not to because I like the antique/vintage appearance it has after washing.

Before I add my top I've double-checked to ensure all of my seams are pressed in the proper direction and loose threads have been cut.

Here is the quilt sandwich with the top added.

I still need to pin it, but I've made some progress and am a few steps closer to getting it quilted and passed on to my granddaughter.