Thanks, Marie!

Awhile back I was whining lamenting to my friend Marie about pin basting.

Because of the arthritis, etc. in my hands, I can't manage safety pins. I've been using straight pins. They're okay, but they sometimes pop out before I'm ready, and they snag on other parts of the quilt. They often scratch my left arm and neck when I have a quilt draped over my shoulder for machine quilting.

I told Marie about something I had seen but couldn't find, and didn't I know the name of them. They were little caps to put over the points of the pins, about the size of pencil erasers. If I could put caps over my pins, they would solve my pin-basting problems. She suggested craft foam, but I found that it's too thin.

Marie recently gave me something to solve the problem: a foam puzzle (bargain!) that she thought was thick enough to work, and soft enough foam that it could be cut and would slide over the pin points easily.

Foam puzzle, cut into pin caps

Yes! The thickness is perfect, a full 1/4", and as you can see, I've already started cutting it into caps for my pins.

Generous 1/4" thick

These little caps are working great! It didn't take much time at all to slide them onto the pins as I was pinning the quilt sandwich together.

Pin basted with foam caps on the pins

So far they're working well - no scratches or snags! I'm almost halfway done with SID, then I'll take out the pins and quilt a diagonal grid across the patches.

SID going smoothly with capped pins

This is another Plus quilt, a donation for STLMQG's quilts for kids drive in November. I thought the basketball print and the masculine colors would make it suitable for an older boy.

Anyway, Thank you Marie for giving me the solution to my pin basting woes!
This is definitely whoop-worthy, so I'm linking up with Whoop Whoop Friday over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.