Red White and Blue Rail Fence Quilt

Mina has been a very generous contributor to Covered in Love! Not only does she regularly contribute to the monthly block drives, but there are always extra blocks and goodies in the boxes she sends!  You'll be seeing more of her projects as I finish them, but first up in this patriotic quilt made from oversize-rail fence blocks.

I only had to join the blocks and border them.  I've had this clothesline fabric for ages just waiting for the right project and this one was it.

I quilted it with a quick, all-over stipple and bound with the same red check that's on the back.

Basting seems to be everyone's least favorite part of quilting, so I want to share a tip I learned recently.  Up until I started CiL I was always a pin baster, but with the increase in volume of quilts that was just too slow and labor intensive. Then I went to spray basting, which was faster but quickly got expensive and I always had to mop afterward, even with putting down drop cloths.  For about the last month I've been using Elmer's washable glue sticks to baste, the kind that go on purple and dry clear.  These don't work quite as well as spray baste, as far as stickiness and reposition-ability, but they still work quite well and it's just as fast.  A $1 glue stick can do about 1.5 quilts and they don't gum up the needle or anything like that.  Plus I can baste across my bed without having to roll up the rug downstairs.  Best of all, they are washable- as promised!  The rinse water turns bright purple when the glue gets wet again and I generally wash twice before drying to make sure all the glue is gone, but once the rinse water is clear you can be fairly certain. I've done a bunch of quilts this was lately so I feel I can vouch for the technique.  No ill effects to report!

Huge thanks to Mina for her support!  If you want to contribute to Covered in Love check out November's block drive page here.

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Friday.