I have been enjoying a break this past week from my regular routine. My husband and I had initially planned to be traveling, but our plans fell through at the last minute. I was kind of bummed (especially since we were planning to visit family I hadn't seen in a while), but I decided that I would go ahead and take the time off anyways. It's been nice and relaxing though.
This past week I have also been going through my sewing room trying to get organized before the busy months ahead. Part of this is taking inventory of the projects that need to be completed, so I have also been pulling out some of those finished quilt tops that need to be quilted. I seem to always have a stack of four or five that are languishing in the back of the closet. You see quilting is not exactly my most favorite part of making a quilt. ; ) I have a smaller sewing machine which can make quilting anything much larger than a small lap quilt difficult (but not impossible). I hope that by learning FMQ--a task that's on my list for this fall--that I'll be able to do larger quilts more comfortably.
In the meantime, I am hoping to tackle this smaller quilt (my Parterre Jardin you may remember from days gone by) using my straight-line quilting skills. The only trouble is that I am kind of stumped about how to approach it. I know that many of you are pretty awesome quilters yourselves, so how would you quilt this? I am considering doing denser straight-lines in the borders and in the sashing, but I'm at a loss as to how to treat the interior blocks.
Lastly, I wanted to share that I am a finalist in Rachel's Softly Against Black Mosaic Contest! I have certainly gotten a lot of new color inspiration from looking through the other entries, so if you like, stop by Stitched in Color to check out the other finalists and to cast your vote for your favorite palette. Voting is open until tomorrow (Sunday) at Midnight EST.
I'm sooo not an awesome quilter, but love the idea of the dense lines in the borders (having just done that on my mini lol) and maybe 1/4" in from the edge of each of the inner squares/rectangles? Or you could just stipple the whole thing, it's amazingly relaxing as there are no rules or lines to follow :oD
ReplyDeletePersonally I LOVE all-over dense straight line quilting, like this one: http://thegirlwhoquilts.blogspot.ca/2012/05/for-oliver-with-love-bloggers-quilt.html OR another personal fave is this one: http://www.teaginnydesigns.blogspot.ca/2012/03/flashdance.html I'm not so good at doing varied quilting in individual blocks and all that.
ReplyDeleteSorry your vocation plans fell through. Love the quilt, and I voted for you.
ReplyDeleteYou could quilt a square in the centre of the four blocks together - either where the nine patch centre square would have been if it had of been a nine patch (wow, does that make sense??) and then echo quilt around it in an ever increasing square spiral until you reach the outer parts of the block. Or you could start with a small square in the centre (same size as the little squares in your sashing) and do the same sort of echo/square spiral out from it. As more of a FMQer - it would drive me nuts all that turning! Although I must admit I love quilt that are straight line quilted. And stick to your idea for the sashing/borders - sounds great.
ReplyDeleteI love that quilt top! Colors, arrangement, everything!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on being a finalist! I love the aqua and red together!
ReplyDeleteSorry about the trip being cancelled. I can understand being bummed if you were looking forward to seeing family.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE that quilt. I see you made mention of it and gave a link to it possibly but that link goes back to this post. I think that may have been something you worked on prior to me finding your blog as I don't recall seeing it before. BUT I LOVE it. Is this a pattern you have done or a tutorial somewhere? I'd love to know more if you can help me find it. Thank you so much.
Don't ask me for quilting advice after the week I have had! Sorry your plans fell through but congrats on being a finalist!
ReplyDeleteI took a lovely FMQ class and I was shocked the first thing that you need a a larger work space. So if you don't have an extension table . . that alone will make your life so much better. I love the ideas that have been presented. I also think if you add a pattern inside the center squares it would be rocking. . maybe a square that starts in the center and then radiates out
ReplyDeleteWell I'm not particularly skilled at quilting, but have you considered hand quilting on the interior of the blocks? It definitely isn't quick, but it might be an interesting look to mix straight, machine quilting with more organic hand. Also congrats on the mosaic!! I saw it on Rachel's blog! I'm a bit behind with going through the blogs I follow, but I did make sure to vote in time :D
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