Hello, I am new to quilting,

[Kraftyacorn]

in fact I am so new that I have never made a quilt. My name is Nina and I live in southern Idaho. I have 4 children and 8 grandchildren. My husband and I work together and I do not have a lot of spare time. But I want to learn how to quilt. A friend gave me a quilt top and I want to tie the top. I have never done any quilting before, I did watch videos on You tube, but I still have questions or I did not understand very well. I would appreciate any help with the quilt tying. TIA. Looks like this board has lots of information.

[MartySews2]

Hi Kraftyacorn, welcome to the group. I know that some quilters will pop in and give you some help. I'm not a quilter so I can't help you very much. There are boards for quilters on this forum.
Marty

[Skye]

Hi Nina,

I like to machine quilt but one of my first quilts - for my dog I did tye. It was a long time ago .

Firstly you need to baste your quilt layers together an nice flat surface is good for this - I used to grovel around on my lounge floor carpet before I got a frame to machine quilt with. The backing should be held flat but not stetched too tight, add your batting ( I would recommend a cotton batting to start as polyester can be slippery and some are lofty and can be difficult to manage) then smooth your quilt toop on.
You can use safety pins, thread baste or for smaller quilts I use basting spray - if you use spray best to do that outdoors and once you have everything nice and flat give it a iron helps the spray to stick better. If you have spray basted I would recommend washing your quilt before using.

For my one and only try at tying a quilt I used no 5 pearl cotton took 2 bites and tied a triple reef knot ( left over right, right over left and left over right)

there are other quilters on this board who will no doubt be far more experience in this technique that I am.

I live in Wellington New Zealand with DH, 3 cats, 2 dogs and have 2 adult children.

Any way friendly people here so ask your questions and someone will sure to help you out.

[Kraftyacorn]

Thanks for the replies. I am looking forward to learning more about quilting. I can't wait to try my hand at tying this quilt.

[LeapFrog Libby]

I personally have never tied a quilt, but my son has one a woman made him. It is tied with different colors of embroidery floss. I have read on packages of batting different measurements of tying according to different batts. Some say every 4 inches, etc... My sons was tied a each corner of each square. The quilt is made of squares about 4 inches square. I appreciate quilting , but I cannot do it. I only do small wall hangings, etc..BTW- Welcome to the site. We are glad you are here.
I mostly make small crafty items any more. I am 80 years old and don't want any large projects any more. LOL

[pinecone]

welcome, Kraftyacorn. As Skye posted, put the backing face down on a table and tape it so there are no wrinkles. If you like a poufy quilt, you will want a medium or high loft polyester batting. It can be a bit more slipery ad my personal taste is Warm and Natural cotton batting but it is thinner. Put the batting on top of the backing, then place the top right side up, tape then use safety pins to hold the "sandwich" together spacing not more that a hand's width apart. I too use perle cotton as to me, it seems a bit dressier than embroidery floss. I use a surgeon's knot. Basically a square knot but you cross the ties, then tuck under 2 times before crossing them over again. You will find there are many methods and no one really "right" way. Check the batting to see how close together the ties need to be.
With time and experience you might like machine quilting better. A high loft batting will not work well there and you will need a walking foot or a freemotion foot for your machine.

piney