My least favorite part of making a quilt has to be the quilting process. It would be nice to be able to send my tops out to a long-armer, but then I would need to cut back on how many tops I could piece, as my fabric budget would have to be cut way back. So I quilt almost all of my own.
I have spent this past week obsessing over how to quilt my ostrich round robin quilt. It is such a different quilt style than I normally make. The medallion type style seems to ask for something different in each border area. A simple all over pattern or outline quilting just isn't right for it. So I have been searching my books for ideas.
These are some of the designs I tried out on my quilt. A few of them made the cut, others did not. Still, I needed to get the designs onto the quilt. And I already had the layers sandwiched, so I couldn't trace them on using a light box. So I decided to try something different.
I photocopied the chosen patterns onto paper that is designed for paper piecing. This actually worked out fairly well. I cut out the design strips and pinned them into place on my quilt. Then I just stitched over the paper and followed the lines. The paper was then torn away and this is what I ended up with.
Moving outward, I added this:
You will notice that the yellow and red border is still not quilted. I have decided what to put there, I just haven't gotten it quilted yet. Maybe today I will get to it. Or not- I have a lot of dirty laundry to deal with.
I am not sure if the quilting on the white area is showing up here, but it's there, honest. Again I have an unquilted border between the quilted ones. This one I think is going to be outline quilted. I haven't found anything else that works with my tiny NYB blocks.
But I did add a little something to these triangles, which still leaves me with the final border needing something. I am still thinking about that one.
And finally, the whole thing as it is in progress.
I am sorry that my photos won't expand when you click on them. I don't know why won't. The actual photos are larger. I have yet to figure out what is causing this to happen.
7 comments:
It's pretty! Thank you for sharing us all the details. I can see that you have put a lot of work into it.
great job! very pretty quilt
Wow, that's great! So much thought is put into the process. Looking at the photos, I can see what you mean, doing the different quilting patterns in each of the different areas works wonderfully! It adds a lot to it, brings it all to life.
As for photos: I find when I try to upload more than 3 photos, they won't expand when clicked. Maybe that's what is happening. Plus, if I upload them using the blogger editing software rather than Picasa, they also won't expand.
Beautiful work! It looks gorgeous.
for someone who doesn't like the quilting bits as much as the piecing bits, you certainly do good, well thought-out work!
and ask around! you might find a long arm quilter who will do some quilting for you at a discount during the off season (usually summer).
I've just discovered your beautiful blog! I'll be back!
Your quilt is gorgeous! Congratulations on finishing it. I've been considering trying to quilt with a design on paper rather than marking the top. I have a lot of anxiety about quilting my tops in general and especially about attempting to mark them. So far, I've managed to avoid it for the most part. Thanks for posting about it. It's great to know that this technique is working for people.
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