big stitch quilting and more

I am enjoying hand quilting the top I made from Tonya's class. For the first time I am trying big stitch quilting with perle cotton size 16 thread / embroidery needle size 8. Quite pleased to find out how smooth the needle and thread is sliding through the fabric and the 100% cotton batting (Quilter's Dream Cotton).

All new to me, the thread, the batting and also just making up the quilting design for the top as I stitch.
Just sharing some pics from the process:

The top is so narrow, it fits on my dining table. I taped the backing to the table itself, before stretching out the batting and then the quilt top. I ironed all three layers, even the batting gets pressed with a steam iron for making it flatter.

I tried something new to me for the basting as well; Janet had a very interesting post about basting before hand-quilting. So I tried basting with these long, sideway stitches instead of my normal straight running ones. I did this for both horizontal and vertical lines.

The deep, rich purple color is not easy to get good pictures of!

Here the basting looks a bit like it's been stapled on. After removing the tape, I was quite happy with how this new basting stitch made the top quite stable. And as I have been quilting it, I am convinced this stitch makes a difference. Please see Janet's post for better pictures of how too do this.

Thank you, Janet for sharing!

; )

After some evenings of quilting, most of the churn dash and letters are done. Now I need to decide on how to proceed to the solid areas of the quilt. For now the choice is between fans or crosshatch grid. We'll see...

There's a new " I took the progress pledge" badge to the right. Thank you to Cheryl and Rossie and the rest of you for sharing your thoughts on blogging. I am strengthened in my view of blogs as a tool for sharing both inspiration and techniques to build skills and venture out and experiment a bit.

If this badge is new to you, it is also a link to lots of great posts and blogs!

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend. I still have a lot of great blogs to visit for the Blogger's Quilt Festival, it will take me some time to read through that list! And I'm amazed at how many lovely comments I've received for my contribution - thank you all for taking the time!

; )

short stories

A finish! I have been following Penny's quilt-along. It has been a lot of fun.

All the fun Heather Ross prints in the center of the blocks gave name to this quilt - "Short Stories".

Here the quilt is on display for the photographer. You can see the curtain clips holding the top edge. I used them to wall baste this quilt, and am quite happy with my new technique:

the quilt was hung on the wall, secured by the clips, top facing the wall

I used some painters tape to stretch it out and fasten the sides and bottom to the wall

the backing was aligned (center length and width) to the top and pinned to the top edge with quilters safety pins

then I just kept smoothing out the back and pinning ...

In addition to the 'quilt as you go', I quilted in the ditch between the blocks, and added some additional L shaped in the ditch quilting in each block a well. The batting is Warm and White 100% cotton.

My blocks ended up 13.25" from a start at 14.5". I think calculating an additional 1.5" to your finished block gives you a bit of room for squaring up your blocks.

The finished quilt measures 66" * 80". It is backed and bound with some of my favorite fabrics from Denyse Schmidts' "Katie Jump Rope" line.

Thank you Penny for hosting this fun quilt-along! Next time I may try making these blocks in a courthouse style. They are a lot of fun to make...

; )

wip

Three small quilts for the table, with their selected bindings. The two first ones are stripes, a favorite choice of mine for bindings. I just made a order of stripes on the end of the year sales, still not here... You can never have to many stripes, can you?

The last quilt has a solid for binding. The colors are indigo, so nice and deep the binding doesn't show up on the picture.

I have been telling myself to "journal" a bit more on how I do things:

Binding: The binding is cut at 1.25", sewn on the front using my guided 1/4" foot, and then folded double to the back and stitched down by hand. This makes a nice and slim binding.

From left to right:

A little table-topper 13" * 18" made from leftovers from this quilt top, using a Amy Butler FQ as backing, and Hobbs 80/20 cotton/ poly for batting. It's quilted in small scale meandering, and it turned out a bit stiff. Not washed yet.

Another small table-topper 14" * 27" made from a charm pack: 1974 and 2" english paper piecing cut templates. It is sewn by hand and quilted by hand. I used the Hobbs 80/20 for batting. This one is so much softer than the above one. Not washed yet.

The third one is 17" * 46" made from 4 pieces of beautiful woven japanese (ikat?) indigo fabric, purchased at a speciality store at a quilt show in Seattle. It is a two sided quilt (intended to be used on both sides). The "batting" is an experiment, very loose woven cotton (not sure what it is called in english). It is both hand-quilted and machine-quilted with straight lines, and drapes beautifully and soft over the edge of the coffee table. Not washed yet.

Still winter around here. My sweet cat has been staying indoors for weeks now, keeping an eye on me...

Happy sewing!