On the Surface

When quilting a quilt I generally follow along the pieced lines. It's quick and easy to quilt a quarter inch from seam lines, but it doesn't always add that special something, especially if there is already a lot of contrast in your colours. I think it's a popular choice because you don't have to work too hard coming up with a design, or spend hours marking it out.

In this orange and purple quilt, the fabric was pretty busy to begin with and a lot of creative quilting would have been lost in the fabric. I handquilted in the orange rectangle about an eighth of an inch from the seam line and quilted an X through the purple centre square. I quilted like this more for utility than anything. This quilt was one of the first I made after I began quilting in 1999.

I quilted similarly on the cover for my desk trash can, but this one I machine quilted.

In my weathervane runner, I quilted diagonally, following the lines created by the star points. It keeps your eye moving to create more interest in the blank spaces. I love how this one turned out.  I will definitely be making some more traditional blocks with modern fabrics. I made the blocks using a tutorial from Don't Call Me Betsy

I made the flower basket quilt for my mother in law in 2004. She has since passed on, so now my daughter has it hung on her wall. I handquilted a lily pad lily in the upper half of the basket. I wish it were easier to see in the picutre, but nothing I did would make it stand out more. I love the way it looks, I think the rounded edges of the quilting softens the pieced lines of the basket. Besides, every basket needs a flower!

I've made a few log cabin quilts, but this is the only one that I made for myself. It was one of my first forays into creating a quilting design that worked with, but didn't follow piecing lines. I am so happy with the way it turned out. I love the rounded lines. I'm not too keen on the butterfly border, but what can I say? I made this one in 2000.

I generally don't know how I'm going to quilt a quilt until after it's done and I've had a chance to stand back and look at it for a while. I usually plan something out in my head and begin measuring and marking. I've never sketched anything out beforehand to see how it would look.

I'm at a bit of a loss for planning the quilting for my sliced coins quilt. I think maybe some kind of allover pattern. This top was made with instructions from Don't Call Me Betsy I think I'll look to the Sliced Coins Flickr group for inspiration.

 
This HST quilt will be easy, I'm going to quilt a quarter inch from the seam lines the way Rita of Red Pepper Quilts did with hers. I still have to add a thin yellow border, but it's almost ready to go. I loved working with this fabric line, it's Momo's "It's a Hoot" with a few Kona solids thrown in. I wish I had bought more than a charm pack to work with, I'd love it if this quilt were larger. 

Going through my stack to find these quilts to take photos of made me realize just how many unfinished projects I've got going. Yikes. Time to get off the computer and get sewing!