Hedgerow Quilt

The Hedgerow Quilt from the Makower UK “Hedgerow Panel” and coordinating print is done! I used three different quilting techniques to complete it.

There is big stitch hand quilting using #8 Perle cotton around the animals in the blocks, straight line walking foot stitching in the Returning Birds pieced blocks, and free motion quilting in the sashing and in the animal blocks.

I did free-motion echo stitching around the leaves in the blocks. It gives the block almost a trapunto effect even though there isn’t a 2nd layer of batting and the batting I used isn’t thick and lofty. I really like it. There is a similar effect with the hand quilting around the animals. I also stitched along the stems of the flowers in the animal blocks.

There is a lot you really can’t see on this quilt. It’s almost like the hidden berries and other wonderful plants in a real hedgerow!

On the sashing blocks, there is a running vine pattern. And each of the solid blue blocks has a free motion plant that is similar to the plants printed on the Hedgerow panel blocks.

You can see what I’ve done a bit better on the back of the quilt, but even there, some of it is essentially hidden! But I know it’s there, and that’s what counts!

The royal blue stitching on the deep orange backing fabric really jolts your eye when you flip the quilt over. It reminded me of the color study posts I did in the past. You can see some of the color studies I did by clicking on the Color Studies Tab above or just by clicking this link.

Big Stitch Quilting on the Hedgerow Quilt

While sandwiching the 3 layers of this quilt, I was looking at the blocks of the quilt and the designs in the blocks. I decided it would be fun to hand quilt around the animals in the panel blocks.

I picked a blue #8 Perle cotton thread and a sashiko needle to do the stitching and sat down to watch television while I quilted. But then this happened!

Quilting companion??

The dog eventually moved to the far end of the sofa and I was able to quilt both the squirrel and standing rabbit.

I really like the way that the blue stitches echo the woodblock look of the Hedgerow panel blocks.

But he got back in the action when I put the quilt on the floor to photograph the blocks!

In the end, the whole dog team got involved! I still have a lot of quilting to finish up, but so far, so good. And these two do amuse me!

Pinwheel Modern Doll Quilt

This year the Proper Bostonian Quilters Guild has been working on a mystery quilt which is a sampler of star blocks.  There have been lots of stitch and flip patches in the blocks. Those stitch and flip units have "waste" triangle units which are really ready-made half square triangle blocks!

I decided to make those little triangles into a couple of doll quilts. Here is the first one. The little pinwheels finish at 2 inches square and the larger ones at 3 inches square.

It's quilted with Big Stitch Quilting using #8 Perle cotton thread and there are French knots in the pinwheels.  When I first started quilting and was using a lot of applique, I added details with embroidery. Now that embroidery is making a big come back, I can see using it, sparingly, to add a little pop to a quilt. I've been adding dots to lots of my drawings so I decided it would be fun to put some little dots in this doll quilt!

This is a little doll quilt--a size chosen to be used with my Baby Waldorf Doll. Doesn't Lucy Birch look comfy under the quilt?

I have enough left little half square triangles to make one more quilt about this size. The design is done and it's ready to sew, so I'll share it soon!

Modern Doll Quilt Completed

Here's my completed Modern Color Block Doll Quilt.

I've quilted it by hand with Big Stitch Quilting using Pearl Cotton thread.  Each row has white stitching and three rows have a second line of stitching using aqua thread.

Here's the back of the quilt.  The baby blue fabric with the tiny white polka dot is really sweet.

A big shout out to Jeannette T. for her assistance with this project!

Coming up in the next few weeks:  My newly designed Waldorf Style Doll.

1990 Silk Screened Quilt Blocks Finally Quilted

I've been really working on decluttering my house this year. Cleaning out drawers with craft supplies, I recently found a stack of rabbits which I had silk screened in 1990.  I printed the rabbit design on my Valentine cards that year.  But I thought the rabbit was really cute so I also silk screened a stack of quilt blocks.  So there they were, 25 years later, still waiting to be made into a quilt. 

The Proper Bostonian Quilters Guild had a UFO (Un-Finished Objects) Summer Challenge this year.  That was the perfect incentive to make these blocks into a mini quilt!  It measures 17.5 x 22 inches, a lovely size for a doll quilt.   The quilt is machine pieced and bound, but all the quilting was all done by hand.

The fabric on the back is a tiny apple design.  

I'm so happy I found my stack of rabbit blocks and finally put them to good use!

Thousand Pyramids Quilt "Shades of Spring" completed

Here's my completed Thousand Pyramids "Shades of Spring" quilt.  There is a row of Big Stitch Quilting along the diagonal of each row of block in a variety of matching colored cotton threads.  Then there are two to four rows of white machine stitches, ranging from 1/2 to 1/4 inch apart.

The back is pieced. I like it as much as the front! 

Back of "Shades of Spring"

Big Stitch Quilting for Modern Quilts

Since using Big Stitch Quilting on my "Spinning J" quilt I've been thinking about big stitch quilting a lot.  It's a fun change from using a walking foot or doing free motion quilting. And it's portable, especially if the quilt isn't too big. 

I've looked at supplies on-line but here's what I've been able to find locally. From Joann's DMC® 5 perle cotton in a variety of great colors and DMC® 8 perle cotton just in white. I asked one of my local quilt shops if they had perle cotton.  They didn't, but suggested 12 wt Sulky ® cotton thread. 

Here's a photo of 4 threads--top to bottom:  5 Perle DMC® cotton,  8 Perle DMC® cotton, 12 wt Sulky ® cotton  and traditional cotton hand quilting thread. 

I found both the Clover Chenille needles and the Fons & Porter ™ Utility Needles at Joann's. 

I used the 5 Perle cotton and a Clover Chenille needle for the quilting on my "Spinning J quilt".  It had a wool batting and I had no trouble doing the quilting with the thick thread.  But I thought it was going to be a struggle to use a thread that thick on a quilt with cotton batting. 

So on my Thousand Pyramids Quilt, I'm using white DMC® 8 Perle cotton and a variety of #12 wt Sulky (R) colored cotton thread. 

Here they are side by side.  DMC® 8 Perle cotton on the left and #12 wt Sulky® cotton on the rig

I used a Fons and Porter™ Utility Quilting needle with both threads.  The hand quilting is easy with both threads.  I was able to get 4 running stitches with the Sulky® thread though only 3 running stitches with the 8 Perle cotton. 

I learned traditional hand quilting from my college roommate's grandmother in their farm house in South Dakota. You can't get a better teacher than that!   So I can do small even quilting stitches. But I like the organic feel of this big stitch hand quilting.  It isn't perfect, but I like it like that!

Give it a try if you've never done any hand quilting. It's fast, fun and it adds another dimension to your quilt. 

Modern Improv Quilting, "Spinning J"

Here's my Modern Improv Quilt, "Spinning J" based on "Score #9" in Sherri Lynn Wood's book, The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters.

It was a real challenge to get it from pieced arcs to a rectangular quilt!  But the puzzle pieces did all fall into place one by one! It's now actually a fairly true rectangle but it sure doesn't look like it!  

I used DMC Perle Cotton embroidery thread for the Big Stitch Quilting.  It has a wool batt so the quilt is light and lofty.  I picked the wool batt because I thought it would best accommodate the irregular piecing in the quilt.  And that's why I did the hand quilting too. 

I had completed the quilting before I knew the technique had a name!  I just heard Carolyn Friedlander use the term on her recent Modern Quilt Guild member's webinar,  "Handwork is Fun." 

Here's more information about Big Stitch Quilting on a Craftsy.com blog post written by Diane Knott last year.  I really like the look of the Big Stitch Quilting with the wool batt. 

Even the label for this quilt has improv piecing!  

This quilt is totally fun!  I really learned a lot in the process of making it.

If you're interested in making an improv quilt, I recommend that you pick up a copy of Sherri Lynn Wood's book. I will really help you with the various improv piecing processes.