I'm not a planner when it comes to quilting. I had thought that I would just grid quilt it to make it robust for family use- it will go on our sofa. I am grid quilting the sky but have other plans for the other sections.
As you can see in this pic, I am added hand quilting. I don't know how much, but I did know that I didn't want to machine quilt the curves so I started with a few hand stitches and kept going.
Hand quilting does not come easy to me. I find it a strain on the hands so I'll be doing little and often rather than long stretches. I am using Coats Cotton 20wt hand quilting thread bought from Amazon which is similar to Gutterman hand quilted thread- Chase recommended this and I greatly enjoy using it. It has a coating like the Gutterman but is a little thicker. Lovely to sew with. Wynn sent me the Fujix Quilt Farm which is very similar and although it's polyester it feels just like cotton. I have a pretty basic rocking technique and I don't use a hoop as I find they annoy me! I do use leather thimbles, one to push the needle through and the other to meet the needle on the reverse side. Here's hoping that more practice will improve my skill.
For those still looking for the My Small World quilt pattern, Jen Kingwell is releasing it as a pattern soon, I believe it is currently at the printers. Thank you Jen for a design that has inspired so many quilters to make their own small world. It is definitely a quilt for learning! I know I've certainly improved my small piecing skills and accuracy along with appliqué and hand piecing. I'd like to say a big thank you to my co-hosts and their tips and tricks, John, Megan, Lisa, Danielle and Cindy. Cindy has finished quilt to show you which is stunning! And another big thank you to all of you who have taken part and shared your work, it has been a pleasure to see so many! All the quilt-along posts will stay up if you are still working on earlier sections. I'd love to see and finished tops and quilts, you can tag my on any pics on Instagram, I am @verykerryberry. It has been a wonderful experience quilting along with so many people.
I love the quilting you've done so far and look forward to seeing the completed quilt!
ReplyDeleteOh, man, I'm drooling over here, I'm so in love with your top/quilting/fabrics, all of it! I hope your hands don't suffer too much, though. You're right, "little and often" should help.
ReplyDeleteLove how you're finishing! All of that detailed work is paying off.
ReplyDeletelove love love your small world...thank you so much for hosting ... couldn't have done it without you....mine is almost compete ...
ReplyDeleteeven without the pattern [searched everywhere ~ so glad jen kingwell is releasing the pattern] i enjoyed this qal sooo much. it was such a fun summer challenge xoxox
This is just wonderful! I also am going to quilt a bit on the areas that I appliquéd. I love how the cross hatching on the sky looks. I have just finished part 5 and I am taking a little break before doing part 6 so I hope to be quilting and finishing up by the end of the year. Thanks so much for your posts. You have helped me figure out how to do the difficult parts and have kept me motivated to keep going.
ReplyDeleteI've not started mine yet, still planning but have your site and the others handy for hints and suggestions.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea to mix hand and machine. Have you ever tried YLI quilt thread on the wooden spools? I've used it for both hand and mache quilting, 100% cotton and it is lovely in my opinion.
Beautiful, your time hand-quilting has been very well spent!
ReplyDeleteThank you for being a terrific hostess. Lovely quilt. I recently switched to big stitch quilting using Jen's tutorial at Fat Quarter Shop site. My stitches ate still pretty small and the motions feel more natural to me. I've started handquilting most of my work. It's pretty fast.
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