Saturday, July 05, 2008

Quilted inspiration


1. in its new home!, 2. Celebration, 3. Orange and Brown quilt, 4. Doll Quilt Swap I: received, 5. Safety for Birds, 6. Vintage Quilt, 7. Finished Quilt, 8. Paletas Quilt - Finished!, 9. bento box quilt, 10. hourglass quilt, 11. finished quilt, 12. double wedding ring quilt, 13. aqua red babyquilt , 14. Zig-zag quilt., 15. Numbers quilt, 16. it's done!!!

I'm working on my Flock of Triangles quilt again! I'd gotten stalled after finishing the quilt top in May, because the quilt top was wider than the fabric I'd bought for the quilt back. But earlier this week -- on Canada Day, actually -- I took up the project again. I patched three pieces together to make the right size of a backing, and I made the quilt sandwich and basted it together with safety pins. Since then I've been hand-quilting just inside the edges of each white triangle. It's so much fun. I'm about a third of the way through the triangles -- just starting in the middle and sewing out from there -- and then I'll probably also do the vertical lines as shown in the book.* I want to finish the whole thing by the end of July, because Bill's sister is coming to visit, and not only is she a quilter extraordinaire,** but she's the one who sent those yellow fat quarters to me that were the basis of this quilt.

I know that ideally one is supposed to use some kind of frame or hoop while hand-quilting, in order to keep the layers together and taut, but does everybody do that? If you think it's really important to do that, please stop reading. Here's how I do it: I sit on the couch with the pinned-together quilt sandwich heaped on my lap. It seems to work just fine.

* OMG, while looking for the link to the Denyse Schmidt book, I found this Single Girl Quilt pattern. Love it.

** Note to self: Photograph and blog about the amazing quilt Debbie made Bill and me several years ago.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

no using a hoop is not a must.

do you read 'lazy gal quilting'? she never uses one. and bonnie of quiltville said she uses one just to give her left hand seomthing to grip but she makes sure the quilt is actually very loosely in the hoop, she doesn't put a lot of tension on it.

you said you pinbasted right? ergo: the layers are already being kept together, so you certainly don't need the hoop for that part. ;)

i wouldn't worry about it.

p.s. ALL those quilt pictures and not a one of the one you're workin on... :(

amanda said...

hey, I recognize one of those quilts ;) and, yeah, your hand-quilting method is my hand-quilting method. good choice! also? I'm with Carolyn - we need pics! can't wait :)

Donna said...

Well there are no quilt police and if it works for you...go for it. I've done the same thing and it's worked fine but I also kept laying it out and checking regularly to make sure nothing puckered. Don't forget the pics.

Alissa said...

Thanks for including my quilt in your inspiration!! (The orange and brown quilt.) So nice of you... can't wait to see pics of your finished Flock of Triangles!

yaiAnn said...

Ack, all this quilt inspiration.. I need to finally make myself one.. but I owe two quilts to two babies first. When is it my turn? I can't wait to see how yours comes out!

Laura said...

I safety-pin my layers then sit on the sofa and handquilt just like you. And judging by everyone else's comments, we have a good thing going, right?

ehmeelu said...

Thanks for including my grandmother's quilt (double wedding ring) in your inspiration! I'm looking forward to following your blog . . . I love to knit and quilt too.