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Monday, 13 June 2011

Bowls and quilting

I've been busily working on a king-size quilt which needs ot be finished tomorrow. The quilting is mostly done, but there's still plenty to go.


I ased a bowl and a Hera marker to mark the 3/4 circles which form the spine for the whimsical feather border (above) and did the same with a slightly larger bowl to mark the scallops in the white outer border (below).


It's all free-motion quilted, and I'm really pleased with the feathers. Individually they're not perfect, but the effect is terrific.


Before the free-motion, I quilted in the ditch all around the borders; it looks a little odd from the back with the feathering going across the line of ditch quilting, but as I was quilting, it really did help stabilise it, and it's not visible from the front.


These feathers took a few evenings to complete; the combined borders are 11in, and take the quilt to 83in square.


This is the biggest quilt I've done on this machine, and probably my biggest ever. It does start to take up a bit much space while I'm working in the centre, but it's not a problem. I'm so glad to have that extra space!

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8 comments:

  1. FlourishingPalms13 June 2011 at 21:10

    It's really pretty, Emma! How clever to use a cup for marking the scallops, but even more impressive that you could free-hand the feathers like that! It's something I strive for and hope to be able to do one day.

    I heard a tip, though I haven't tried it myself. When you're quilting to stabilize, as you did through the blocks, use dissolvable thread. That will hold the quilt while you quilt the rest of it, and a cold water wash afterward will wash away the linear stitching that can ruin the effect on the back of the quilt... if you care about such things. I have some of the wash-out thread that I used for a trapunto piece, so I plan to give this a go myself sometime.

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  2. Vicki W14 June 2011 at 00:45

    Beautiful quilting! I love your spiral feathers.

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  3. Funky's Mama14 June 2011 at 01:14

    Those feathers are lovely! You insipre me to practice (well, learn really) FMQ.

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  4. Yuki14 June 2011 at 01:46

    Very Nice! Love the closeups!


    ttfn :) Yuki

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  5. Lynette14 June 2011 at 02:28

    I love your feathers. The very curvy spine is really pretty.

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  6. Judy 16 June 2011 at 01:37

    I love the combination of the curves and the feathers!

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  7. Deborah Levy16 June 2011 at 03:51

    Pretty feathers and scallops, and a clever way of marking them.

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  8. Hettie Pringle /Stitchingmatters19 June 2011 at 17:46

    You are truly a very creative and talented person.

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