Progressing nicely

I've finally got to the stage where I can baste my Dear Jane quilt! I had some backing fabric from Lady Sew and Sew, and at the beginnning of the month I ordered a full roll of 80:20 wadding. Once again, I'm so impressed with their delivery speeds. So it arrived, DS took it in, and once I was home from work, I cut a piece big enough for Jane to pre soak. Luckily we're having some lovely weather right now so it was able to dry on the line by the next morning. The backing fabric is cream with sprigs of green ferns on, very unobtrusive and I think it's just what I was needing for Jane.

DH moved all the lounge furniture to the sides. It looked like we'd put the whole room in a centrifuge and flung everything to the walls, but it's the only way I could get a space big enough to baste the quilt without worrying about creases, folds and tucks!

So, backing laid out, and pinned to the carpet along the 2 free edges. Next was to put the wadding on top:



Finally pin the quilt top itself to the sandwich. I pinned it with stick pins first of all then crawled all over it and pinned with curved safety pins in each block and at the centre of each border triangle:



Only trouble was I ran out of pins with a row of blocks and the top edge of triangles still to pin! Trip to Co-op today to buy more and it's all but done.

Now much as I'd love to start on it, I must carry on with the Irish chain, or it's going to end up being a UFO with a huge back story! Also, I've not decided which thread to quilt Jane with. I know I want a neutral colour, but I browse websites and get myself more confused than ever. Why can't there just be a shade called "perfect for what you need" that automatically arrives beautifully packaged just when you need it?

Tonight, DH and I are running in a local 10K race so late lunch for us followed by Chinese takeaway once we're back home. For once it's gettable to by public transport! Second race in club colours, and the first local one...just hope I'm not left too far behind everyone else at the end. Photos of that tomorrow...maybe