Finally, my first completely done quilt. It is in the wash as I type. Third quilt-top pieced, first time free motion quilting, first time hand-finishing the binding.
It would have been significantly harder without my new machine. I was "running out of room" to move the quilt even with the Janome 6600p's much larger bed. I'm pretty sure I will learn to stuff increasingly larger quantities of fabric more efficiently in there.
I tested it earlier with B; he approves. It is a good playmat size. Plus, he can't quite get a good enough grasp on it to move it about, like the blankets.
I'm impatiently waiting for the quilt to cycle through the wash and dry process. I really want to see what this soft-and-crinkle transformation is like. And of course, hopefully all my binding off/tucking loose thread methods worked, so it doesn't fall apart in the wash!
Update: All dried and warm(ish) from the wash. It did crinkle! The batting is pretty much as before, fabric slightly more pliable (and crinkly). I expected maybe softer, but I suppose that will come with time. It is warmer than you'd expect. Also, nothing came apart, yay!
Things I have learned:
...pin-basting on my dining room table works well.
...you want a bigger backing on the quilt when FMQing because you need a way to maneuver the quilt at the very edge, not because your fabric might shift (it shouldn't, if you put enough pins in!).
...you probably want to pink the edges of the quilt when trimming it to size, as straight edges fray like mad from all the handling.
...while quilt clips may not work on hair, hair clips work just fine on a quilt (to hold binding down)
...hand finishing the binding invisibly really looks great. Also a great thing to do in front of the TV.
