First I'll try to upload a photo.
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| my "Summer Sampler" from TQC sew-along |
OK, that worked! I had the option of choosing a photo from my blog, so that was easy. Have we always had this option? I don't remember.
Now to import from my desktop.
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| antique "inspiration" quilt |
That still works. Cool! OK, let's move on.
I finished my Summer Sampler top several weeks ago. I prepared the backing and batting, even made the binding, so its ready to quilt. Except ... I'm not sure how I want to quilt it. Ideally I'd like something traditional, and probably overall as I want it to be flat, but I don't want the quilting to be incongruous with the designs of the pieced blocks.
I considered a grid, but ruled it out as too disruptive within the blocks, and too boring on those wide borders.
Last night I hung the top back up on my design wall, and meditated on it. I asked myself, what would be the ideal quilting for this quilt? The answer came pretty easily: Baptist Fans. However there are roadblocks with this pattern, which is why I was trying to find something else easier/faster. Pattern-wise though, I think the Baptist Fans might be perfect.
Now the first question (assuming I go with the fans) would be whether to quilt by hand or machine. Machine would be faster and in some ways easier, but the difficulty lies with all those starts and stops. My thread of choice for machine quilting would be Microquilter 100 wt poly, which is super thin and ideal for going over a variety of different colors, but the deal breaker is, it doesn't want to knot. Hand knotting after the fact is a non-starter, as there would be hundreds of these. And I'm not confident even those would hold. I could use a thin cotton thread such as Aurofil, but I'm afraid it might look too "heavy" and detract from the pieced blocks. And what color would I use?
So that leaves hand quilting. That I can do, but only in small increments, so I'd have to accept that it would take a very long time to complete. That's ok, I'm not in any hurry. I'm thinking that to hand quilt this, I'm going to have to sew a wide "border" around the entire quilt (and probably the backing) in order to be able to center each bit of the quilt, including the very edges, in my hand held PVC frame. Also doable, just more work. In any event, I'll need a Baptist Fan stencil, which I think I can order from Barb. I'm wondering if pin basting will work, or do I need to thread baste. More work again, and kind of a pain. Or ... have any of you tried hand quilting through basting spray, such as 505? That would save a lot of time.
Anyway, that's my conundrum for the moment. In writing this post, I already answered most of my own questions, so that's progress, I guess! I welcome any comments or suggestions, or advice on any of the above. Thanks!
love,
Sandy
ps Turns out I forgot to "choose" the New Blogger (I thought it had become the default) so no surprise that everything worked as normal, lol!
New blogger will be nearly the same with a few notable exceptions. Just play with it as we all are, it's not really that awful once you learn a few new ways of doing things/symbols used. I think hand quilting with Baptist fan stencil is the way to go. It should go well, especially if you do your own version of big stitch with the slightly thicker thread like Aurifil 12 wt. If you like wool batting, it will quilt up easily! I love this quilt, so traditional and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteIf you have a friendly nearby machine quilter to baste it that would work for what ever quilting you decicded to do.
ReplyDeleteI echo what searsportquilter said. It has been so nice hand quilting a quilt that I had a longarm quilter baste for me.
ReplyDeleteI really like your finished top and the Baptist Fan was the first pattern that came to my mind when you said you wanted to use an allover design.
I've had several quilts basted by my LAQ. It's a great deal. The Aurifil 12# is a nice thread to big stitch with. The thread will show up more though. Depends on the look you want. It will be interesting to see your plans.
ReplyDeleteI am still ignorant of the new blogger. I hope I don't have any hiccups along the way!
ReplyDeleteYour Summer Sampler is lovely! It's always a dilemma to choose a quilting design. I just quilted a top with straight line quilting and after finishing about a third of it decided I had made the wrong decision. Two days of unpicking was not fun. I do love fan quilting--that will be beautiful on your top. I'm unable to do much hand quilting, but basting on my longarm has worked out nicely.
ReplyDeleteSuch a beautiful quilt top you have there! Love the idea of doing the fan quilting, that would be so appropriate. Can't hardly wait to see your progress!
ReplyDeleteSuch a pretty sampler and hurray for baptist fans. I have used Barb's stencil on several quilts - I love it!
ReplyDeleteWell, not to go against the grain but what about hanging diamonds? much easier than fans?
ReplyDeleteI love how you took an antique inspiration quilt and made a modern version of it while trying to figure out the new Blogger. Insert screaming face here. I'd use a dove grey for quilting. Aurifil 40wt should not be heavy. Not a fan of start/stop quilting patterns but then I mostly quilt straight-ish lines from one end to the other. No help there. Stay safe.
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