Prepping and Pinning "Jambo"

'Getting this guy ready to quilt! I generally iron my backing, my batting ( sometimes thru a press cloth depending on whether man made fiber ( eg poly) is part of the mix, and certainly iron the top. I stretch the backing, lay the flat batting atop, and smooth. I will sometimes use a very light temp spray application on a half quilt at a time for bonding. ( by the way... I like Sulky's temp spray because it has a small spray area with minimal propellant so I can use it indoors). I will repeat this light spray process with the top.

If the quilt is very small.... I might then pin at each of the 4 corners and get on with it. If it's larger (eg tabletop size or larger), I generally pin as well. BUT know that if I have temp strayed, I use about half the amount of pins than I would with no light temp spray. The way I tend to quilt art pieces ( heavier than most) I push my quilts around so much that the pinning is extra insurance things stay where I mean them to stay!

All that said, when pinning, I tend to pin inside out, and place pins still open across the quilt top. Doing this will reduce the possibility of shifting an area during the pin closing process. They look like little soldiers, huh?
That done.. close pins
Do yourself a big favor and pin/stabilize the outer pieces of backing to batting as insurance from the backing unknowingly rolling back under the quilt sandwich, and getting 'quilted in!" It only takes one extended rip out session to know how well spent these 5 minutes can be.