I finally put this up my quilt frames.  I looked at these colors for quilting but I made a trip to Hancock Fabrics and got some green Gutermann  quilt thread as well as some in between needles.  They were all on sale, so I was pretty happy.  

 I work at a school in Migrant Education.  I have 3 girls that came from Mexico this year, that I am teaching phonics and reading to.  I am making them each a bag.  This is the start of one of them.

The next part of this post may be just for me.  My friend Dixie helped me baste the Christmas Quilt.  I know it is a lost art and I, for one, am always forgetting the exact order of how to do it.  

So here is how to baste a quilt....the old fashioned way.

• Line up the edges of the backing fabric with the boards exactly and then pin them to the boards using thumb tacks.  Backing fabric is face down.

•  Next, put the other boards underneath and slowly stretch them out. I'm not going to lie, sometimes (every time)  things fall.  Just pick it up and try again.

• This is what the corner should look like. 

•  Use a clamp to hold it together.  If using a c-clamp, make sure the twisty part is up.

•  I like these clamp so much better.

•  Next, lay out the batting and then the quilt top, right side up.  Use thumb tacks to pin to the board. 

•  I had a bigger back than the quilt top, so we stretched it and used straight pins to pin it to the batting and backing.  

• Here we are ready to baste.  When basting, go around the edge and also a second row about 6 to 8 inches in at the same time.  Then, when you can not reach any farther in, start rolling.  We always do 2 rows at a time.
• When you roll, take off the clamps and roll to where you want to start basting. Put the clamps back on.  
• One last comment.  You really need a friend to do this with.