Basting

Can you tell what this is? I paid about $100 for it. I don't know if that's a good price or a bad price but it is a necessity in my life and Tetsu says go ahead. It is another roll of batting! (You quilters knew that, didn't you?) This roll is 20 meters and I wonder how long it is going to last me.

Years ago Mrs. Furui once bought a roll of batting that was 100 meters. This huge paper-wrapped package was delivered to her door and the delivery man even asked what the thing was! So light of course, but so bulky, (it was 75 centimeters in diameter!) She had to decide not to buy so much batting at one time because it wouldn't fit in any of her rooms (without being an obstacle)! She kept it upstairs and it didn't fit in the closet so for months her family couldn't use the upstairs bathroom because the batting was blocking the hallway! Since then we limit our purchases to 20 meters.

Mrs. Furui ordered the batting for me last week and yesterday I went to her house to pick it up and also to get her help in basting my Wonky Word quilt. Mrs. Furui has a tatami room that is large enough to spread out a single size quilt and so we always do our basting at her house. My house just doesn't have a room that is large enough with enough floor space and even if I took up the futon on the floor upstairs it is all carpeted. As we basted we wondered how quilters who don't have tatami floors do their basting. Tatamis are very convenient because you can stabilize the quilt to it by stabbing the floor with pins. Also the basting needle won't leave marks where I would think basting on a wooden floor would scratch it. (Basting on the carpet always leaves me frustrated because I baste the carpet to the quilt!)

My Wonky Word quilt is now at the quilting stage and you may not see it again for months while I hand quilt it. (Oh no, that's going to mean I won't have sewing things to show you again!)