The Teddy Bear Quilt: A Team Effort

The Teddy Bear Quilt, made for my cousin who is due in July, was another team effort. My mom and I chose the fabrics together, and we both did part of the piecing and machine quilting. Once again, I am very pleased with the results of our joint effort.



We built the quilt around the Teddy Bear fabric panel. The other polka dot fabrics were complimentary fabrics created in the same fabric line. However, we added the yellow, green, and blue striped border fabric. The baby feet fabric in the center blocks came from a piece we'd had in our stash forever. It was nice to be able to use it.

Most of the quilting was done by stitching in the ditch. However, my mom cross-hatched the bear panels, and we tried to do something a little fancier in the outer border. I machine quilted the cord, and my mom put the baby feet in the corners. The quilted baby feet turned out particularly well, and honestly are my favorite part of the quilt.

Naturally, when I tried to take a picture of the back of the quilt, my quilt inspector had to give the quilt another going over. Either that, or he wants everyone to know whose boss. Ahem.

Pin Basting--Like a Teenager With Too Many Piercings

Basting. It's my least favorite part of the quilting process. Consequently, I tend to gravitate toward the method that is the quickest--spray basting. Since I've never found a way to control the fumes and the mess, I spray baste outside. Unfortunately, that leaves me at the mercy of the weather. Ever try to find a day in spring with no wind?

Enter pin basting, my second choice. Actually, it is a pretty good basting method too. Not as fast as spray basting, especially if the quilt is large, unlike the featured baby quilt, but faster than thread basting. No fumes. No waiting for the weather to cooperate. So what's not to like?

I discovered when pin basting this baby quilt, what I don't like is the look. Yep, like a teenager with too many piercings. I can't see the beautiful kid, because I'm staring at the 5 silver rings protruding from his lip. (I'm not against piercing per se, but like anything, it can be overdone.)

You're probably thinking that's weird. After all, in quilting, the pins do eventually come out. Very true. However, so much of my enjoyment of quilting is the texture and color of the fabrics, and how they play together in the quilt design. Somehow with my quilt full of pins, all I can see is the darn pins!

The Learning Quilt

Even though I've been quilting for 15 years and consider myself an experienced quilter, I've come to the realization that really isn't true. I'm an experienced hand-piecer and hand-quilter, but I'm still somewhat of a newbie when it comes to machine piecing, and especially machine quilting. This quilt proved to be a learning experience in so many ways.


First lesson: When blocks of two different patterns are to be joined together side by side, be absolutely sure they work up to be the same size. Did I check this before I started? Nope! These blocks aren't markedly different in size, but it's enough to make putting them together and machine quilting them less than optimal. The Kansas Star block, the block that resembles more of an X than a star, is a teensy bit bigger than the Time and Tide block, which strongly resembles a star. (Who thinks up these names anyway?) Yes, I fudged them together during the piecing, and thought I was in the clear. I failed to forsee that the bigger block would be "puffier" during the quilting process.


Second lesson: Have the right sewing machine for the job. I began machine quilting this quilt on my trusty Kenmore. The Kenmore is a great machine for piecing, but not so much for machine quilting. The small harp proved to be an issue for this 62 X 74 inch quilt. Also, the motor wasn't geared low enough. When I slowed down to the speed I needed to go for accuracy, the motor wanted to stall out. Enter the Juki TL-98Q with its large harp and motor that is able to slow to the crawl I sometimes need, or do 1500 stitches per minute. Huge difference!


Third lesson: I must not let my mind wander when stitching in the ditch. This was the first time I've ever stitched in the ditch. I love this technique! It's great for doing the primary anchoring when beginning the quilting. And when used around certain elements in a block, it can really make those elements "pop". However, if I start to think about what I'm going to fix for supper, doing errands, or even just another quilting project, all of a sudden I'm no longer stitching in the ditch; I'm stitching on the curb.


Fourth lesson: I will never again do stars, squares or other various and sundry shapes with straight line quilting. Turning the quilt, even with the ample harp space of the Juki, is a major chore. My shoulders wear out quickly. I will learn to do free motion quilting or my straight line quilting will be straight lines. Period.


The good news is that the quilt is done. The bad news is that because I had so much trouble with it, I see all of its flaws. The quilt is for a dear a friend, and I wanted it to be perfect. Sometimes we just have to suck it up.