Basting

I'm lucky.  I know I am.  When my fiancee and I moved to Central Florida we decided to rent a 3 bedroom house, giving us a master bedroom, a guest room, and allowing me to have a dedicated sewing room.  As luck would have it, it is also the only room in the house that the owners decided to forgo carpet- giving me a perfect basting spot!  The room is a little small so basting big quilts is still a pain, but this little lap size quilt was a perfect fit (after I moved out the coffee table that doubles as a cutting table). 

 

A peek at my sewing space.  A little cramped sometimes, but a HUGE step up from my last sewing area (a tiny bistro table that held my sewing machine and nothing else.  When quilting, I would pull a chair next to the table and lay the quilt on it to help distribute the weight.

 

 

 

This quilt- made primarily of Tula Pink Salt Water prints- will be going to live with my mom when it is finished.  She is redoing her living room for the second time in four months and requested new quilts.  I believe her exact wording was "if you make me new quilts, I'll give you back the two I swiped the last time I visited."

 

 

My favorite basting trick!  I think I figured this out on the first quilt I basted, though I won't assume I am the first to come up with this.  It certainly does help though.  I use a crochet hook to hold the bottom part of the safety pin, then I just have to push down on the top part and pull the hook to close the pin.  Definitely saves the fingers when there is a lot of basting to be done. 

Do you have any tips or tricks for basting?