quilting 911 - it's sandwich time!

the kids let me sew yesterday :)  this time it only took me being a circus ring leader while they had a carnival complete with ferris wheel for their my little ponies and a farm house with animal attractions.  they even formed a line up for their little people to get into the carnival and pay to visit. it was hilarious but a game that ensured me a good chunk of time while i ran the circus engine for the ferris wheel.  it gave me the time i needed to finish my quilt top!!!! weeeee!!!!  so excited!

i love it.  it's not perfect...but that's ok.  it's only my 3rd quilt ever and was a new technique for me so i learned a lot.  i could have had some of my hst's line up a bit better but they were good enough in my book.  i think accuracy and good measuring/cutting really count in this quilt (i suck at cutting) so the fact that they look like zig zags and mostly line up made me pretty happy with myself.  now comes my fave part!

 time to make the quilt sandwich!  the quilt sandwich is not my fave part but the quilting is!  i love the actual sewing and quilting of quilts.  something so meditative and relaxing about it all.  i plan on sewing 2 lines a 1/2" on either side of the zig zag line.  after spending days staring at zig zag quilts online when i first chose to make this quilt i realized pretty quickly this was my fave pattern for quilting.  i love the effect it has on the back as well.  i'm pretty excited to get some serious sewing time done on this quilt as soon as i can.

balloon in aqua from children at play by sarah jane

i also am still debating about the size of the quilt.  i really, really, do not want to make a border so this quilt may end up just being a cross between a lap quilt/twin quilt for my oldest.  it will be cozy no matter what though.  i'm having second thoughts about the backing though.  my gut is so in love with using the balloon print that i really don't want to change it but i also feel like i need a second opinion on it.  am i off my rocker people?  could i get away with this?  i feel like the tones in the backing print are a nice blend of the warm/cool tones in the quilt but i really stress about this part.  it always takes me forever to decide...lol.  any thoughts? 

also, for those of you who are wondering what methods/tips i use for making the quilt sandwich these are my two favorite posts on the process:

- making the quilt sandwich by ohfransson
- aligning the quilt sandwich by redpepperquilts

and a handy post on if you decide to ever try the spray adhesive route:

- spray adhesive for quilt basting: a quick how to by filminthefridge

i'm off today to get some sewing done in the hopes that my first sewing pattern for sale will be released next week! we are just finishing up some final photo shoots and final pattern edits.  cannot wait...really, it's keeping me up at night i'm so excited for you all to see it!  i hope you all will love it as much as i do.  i've been wearing mine all the time.  i'll also be goofing around with these little monkeys.  i can only imagine who i will be today to get an hour of sewing time in :P  i'll keep ya posted...lol.

you can read the two other posts on my zig zag quilt here:

1st post  |  2nd post  |  3rd post

what is your favorite part of quilting?  do you enjoy putting the your quilt sandwich together? what tricks/tips do you use?  do you have a fave post you refer to?  please share in the comments below and i'll add them to the post above for our reader faves.  you can never have enough tips right?  happy quilting!