To make my ‘quilt sandwich’ for this quilt, I used my longarm to assist. I mounted my backing, then added my batting. I basted along the top, bottom, both sides, and horizontally about every 10 inches. This insured I was able to keep it all aligned and smooth.

Next I placed my well pressed quilt top on the frame and pinned it really well to the basted backing and batting. Next I removed it from the longarm, and smoothed out further on my large cutting table.

The next step was stitching in the ditch following the ‘basting map’ provided with the pattern. While the pattern refers to it as ‘basting’, I is not meant to be temporary and removed later. Once I completed the stitching in the ditch, I flipped my quilt with the backside up, removing the basting threads stitched on the longarm. My quilt was then ready for quilting in the hoop.

Next I did a tension test on my Luminaire XP1, using a sandwich with the same front, backing, and batting used for the quilt.

First up, quilting the twenty month 3 blocks in the hoop. I used my 9.5” by 9.5” for the first block. For the second and third, I used my monster magnetic hoop. The fourth block, I used my 10.5” x 10. 5”. I decided the 10.5” was the best hoop for this job. My 9.5” hoop has a screw type lever for opening and closing the hoop. This was not efficient because it must be unscrewed and then screwed down every time. My magnetic hoop was okay but was not holding the quilt as tightly as I wanted. The 10.5” has a ‘lever style’ fastener. This allows me to unscrew only once for the amount needed to hoop the quilt. then the lever that closes the hoop with a single push. Below is the results for month 3’s quilting.