Setting September Goals

I have been inspired by all those setting September Goals to set some myself. I have decided not to go out too fast in case I run out of energy before the finish line, so I have set 2 simple goals.

The first is to finish sorting out the stash. I am making good progress, and am currently working on the big plastic container under the spare bed. I have some extra small plastic containers, and I bought a drill this morning on the way home from work so that I can put up the shelves I need to arrange all the containers.

The second is to complete and send off the Japanese quilt and this string quilt to the Machine Quilter. I made this about 2 years ago I suppose, and got as far as pinning it, then thought "what the hell am I doing? It's too big and I don't want to quilt it", so nothing has ever happened. I did get as far as phoning a quilter, then didn't get it done because I have to fiddle with the pieced back to make it flat first. Probably 20 mins work if that!

This is a true scrap quilt. It was inspired by this quilt from Liberated String Quilts by Gwen Marston. I bought 2 rolls of long plain coloured homespun strips at a craft show, which were the bits cut off quilt backs after quilting. Then I got out a few fat quarters and added them in. The purple was bought 'el cheapo' at a sale and then I had to get the green and red, but they were fairly inexpensive too, from memory. I just put together what came out of the pile, unless it was a repeat - I mainly pieced it by putting the strips together that would fit each other.

I quite like it, even though I don't really like the print fabrics that I put in (what was I thinking?). But it goes to show I suppose that a quilt is more than the parts put together. I didn't have enough purple for the back, so I used the leftover green and a leftover strip. I still haven't fixed it up. It isn't crooked in real life, just draped crooked on the couch.

One thing I would like to know is - what are the things I should do to the quilts to make them ready for the quilter? I understand that the quilt should be as flat as possible. Should I square up the backing? Any tips would be great so that I can be a good customer.

I just read Evelyn's post on the Fons and Porter article (I subscribe), which I thought was a bit weird when I read it. So it would be good to get it right first time.