My Small World Quilt Along: Conclusion

 As the My Small World quilt along posts come to an end, I've basted my version and started quilting.

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.

My Small World QAL: Part 4

Lisa from Vintage Modern Quilts is your host for constructing part 4 of My Small World.  She has some very handy tips on templates, seam allowances, appliqué and a whole host of general tips that will improve accuracy and the overall look of your quilt.  She's also being posting on Instagram as @vintagemodernquilts and the hashtag #mysmallworld will show you everyone's progress

I found this quite a straightforward section and whizzed through it quite quickly.  I am trying to repeat some of the fabrics from earlier sections and as ever I try just to concentrate on the block I am doing at any one time whilst keeping an eye on the bigger picture from time to time.  

For the clam shells, I used a mix of freezer paper/starch and tip of an iron to turn over the raw edges- double layer freezer is even better- just iron another layer on top of the paper so that there is still a waxy side underneath and paper side facing you - and Mary Dugan's method of layering and hand sewing the clam shells to a base. I did stubble a little keeping them aligned.  Having pencil lines on the back of the base of the actual size of the finished section helped. 

 I am now prepping for parts 5 and 6 and the finish line is in sight.  Katy Cameron has some excellent ideas on how to deal with the green section in part 5 and save a bit of fabric!

Low Volume Swap: My Small World Quilt-along

For those taking part in the My Small World quilt-along, Sue of Jersey Scrapper has kindly organised a low volume 1.5"strip swap so participants can easily add some variety to their low volume sky.  The sky area involved over 300 squares so although it doesn't actual use much fabric, variety is a big help if you have low volume fabrics but are lacking choice of prints.  

Contact Sue via the links for more details, she's got the organisation licked!