Cat Quilt Pinned

Today I got home, asked myself what I should work on, and decided to stop procrastinating and pin my Stairway to Cat Heaven quilt together.  I realized I have a perfectly good space for this on my quilting desk if I just cleared it off, which is just what I did.

First I taped this cardboard thing to it to prevent me from scratching it with all of the safety pins.  I had some big binder clips to clamp down the backing, but it turned out the desktop was too thick, so I just used tape and pins to keep things in place.

I also spray starched the fabric for the first time ever.  I used a recipe from Diane Gaudynski's book, which used about 1/2tsp cornstarch per 2cups of water.  I really can't tell a different from adding the starch. Maybe I didn't spray it enough or something.

 I tried to use pins to square off all the little nine patches, but my seams just aren't straight, so I eventually gave up.

Once I finished the pinning I got started on a little quilting.  I free motion stitched around all the cats, leaving a really wide margin (about 1/8").  I've discovered that when you stitch in the ditch around something, it pops much less than if you leave a little space when you stitch around it.

Then I snapped on my walking foot to get the seams between each of the squares.  However, I noticed after stitching two lines that I'm having trouble moving the quilt forward.  There were multiple spots where the stitches got super compact because the feed dogs weren't moving the quilt forward like they should.  I'm not sure what to do about this, I would love tips.  Presser foot pressure was set to 1 (lowest possible) and feed dogs were up.  And I had the walking foot on for Pete's sake!  A little frustrating.  

But, since I want this one to be fluffy, it should take no time at all to finish quilting since I'm goin to leave lots of open space.  I was realizing while quilting that the batik I bought for the backing has a nice silky texture, an added bonus since this will be a lap quilt.

Batting Trouble - Advice Needed

Well fudge.  I was ironing my backing while it was laid out on top of the batting.  I did this because I have a teeny tiny ironing board so it's way easier to just lie the quilt onto the floor for ironing, and the batting under it provides a nice surface.

Well, after I was done ironing I realized the batting was suspiciously compact, especially along one line where I was ironing a seam.  I double-checked the instructions and sure enough, "do not use hot iron or steam."  Shoot!  It's Dream Puff, 100% polyester.

What should I do?  It is it worth using it? Will it puff back up?  And how the heck are you supposed to get out the folds and wrinkles with no ironing? I get that you don't normally iron batting directly, but I always iron my quilts.  I could always chop this batting up for other projects and get a new one.  Does this always happen with polyester?  Aaack!

UPDATE:  Yeah, so I totally ruined that batting.  Now the question is, do I try polyester again and just don't iron anywhere near it, or should I do something else like wool or cotton?  I still don't get how the batting won't melt when you're ironing the finished quilt if I use polyester.

Brief Update

You may have noticed I've been quiet for the past two weeks...I'm finishing my needlepoint!  It is incredibly close, just a day or two more and it will be there.

In the meantime I read up on machine quilting in preparation for quilting my "Stairway to Cat Heaven" quilt (I finished the top almost a year ago now).  I've got a plan, and today bought the final supplies I will need, namely batting.

Since I'm new to purchasing my own batting, I'm a clean slate as far as preferences for brand, material, etc. I ended up going with the highest loft one I found, because I love fluffy quilts!  It's "Quilter's Dream Puff," 100% polyester, no shrinkage.  I don't like the antique puckered look, so no shrinkage is good.  I also like the brand because normally I buy their "Dream Green," which is 100% recycled plastic bottles (and soft!).  BUT it's super thin, on my last quilt I double layered it and it was still super thin, hence the reason I went with the puff this time.  This one might even end up being too puffy, we'll see.  I will try to go relatively light on the quilting to ensure the quilt doesn't get stiff.  The true test of a quilt's stiffness is whether I can wear it around the house like a cape, which is my favorite pastime. :)


Expect an update in the next week or so with quilt progress and finished needlepoint.  I am planning to assemble this quilt sandwich using a new method involving clamps on the dining table, so we'll see how well it works.