If it's a Girl and Stippling
Monday, January 26, 2009
I've never made a pink quilt before. I'm not sure if this could be considered a pink quilt either. It's more of a red, orange, yellow quilt. The colour scheme was definitely inspired by Kathy Mack's Bento Box quilt.
After practicing my stippling, in a neutral colour, on If it's a Boy, I branched out. This time I've used an orange/yellow variegated thread. It was all plain sailing once I managed to get the threads to behave. Having the sewing surface at the correct height and using gloves makes a world of difference too.
I had been put off stippling years ago. Just stitching in the ditch left me with aching shoulders. I couldn't imagine wanting to stipple. I took the opportunity to practice on these smaller quilts. While I am still a beginner at this, I think the key is ergonomics. My next challenge is to try this on a single bed sized quilt.
Now that another project is finished, it's time for a quick stash update:
This week:
Stash Enhancement – 0m (4.65 m Year to Date)
Stash Used – 1.5 (6.85m YTD)
New Fabric Used – 1m (3.65m YTD)
Totals
Stash Enhancement – 4.65 m Year to Date
Stash Used – 6.85m YTD
New Fabric Used – 3.65m YTD
7 comments
Wow - that is a lovely quilt. I just can't get over the speed with which you get your quilts made! When I hand pieced mine 20 years ago, machine quilting was rare, and the advice to me was "allow 2 years." I did, and it took that.
ReplyDeleteI am so pleased that things have sped up since then. It's opened a whole new range of practical possibilities. I have even thought of sewing one myself, after I saw that lovely one you made a long time ago featuring dress forms.
But nah, I'll enjoy quilting vicariously, through your hard work.
If it's a girl... she'll love it! That inner border looks like it was a fun fabric!!
ReplyDeleteDid ya know that the 'experts' say that you need to invest about 25-30 hours into machine quilting practice before you'll feel comfortable with it? They do... so the more little quilts you do - the better you'll get. When I taught machine quilting at a quilt shop I had everyone get a couple yards of muslin and a twin size batting and make up a bunch of 'practice sets'. They now had no excuse for not spending a little time trying out this that or the other. And to get the most mileage out of your practice sets... use a light colored thread in the top and a color to match the muslin on the bottom. After you've filled the practice piece with your light color - you can start all over again by changing the top thread to something a little darker than the first... and so on. Then when that side gets too 'colorful' turn your piece over and stitch on the back. I use these pieces over and over again as warm up pieces before I sit down to something I'm working on. I spend 10 minutes warming up and practicing the style I want and then I'm ready to go.
Oh and even though I've gone on and on here... with variegated threads it can be a problem to get the tension just right. The part of the thread with the most dye (color) will be thicker/heavier and the lighter areas will be thinner/lighter in weight. Some colors are worse than others. I had a light to very dark blue variegated that was a pain to tweak so that it wasn't too loose here and not too tight there.
first...love the quilt! great job on your stipping too. it was good to read howdy's comment. i definitely need to practice more.
ReplyDeleteWell done on the stippling! I can't wait to give it a try!
ReplyDeleteOh Amy, it looks beautiful! I love the hour glass block and the colours are so pretty. Your stippling looks marvellous - I haven't tried gloves yet but think I will definitely give them a go. I too am working my stippling only on little quilts. One day I might get bigger ....
ReplyDeleteoh this is so pretty.i would not have known that you havent been stippling for awhile, i think you did it beautifully. i too have put it off, i just dont know where to go in my stippling..if that makes sense
ReplyDeleteSuch a gorgeous quilt, very simple but stunning :-) The variegated thread looks great too.
ReplyDeleteYour comments make my day. I would love to hear from you.