I don't like quilting big quilts any more, well to be honest I have never liked quilting larger quilts on the machine, my shoulders and patience really just don't cope with it at all. Quilting is supposed to be fun and if it isn't fun, then I just don't do it.
This probably explains my reluctance to quilt anything and complete things and why I have so many UFO's lurking in my sewing room and any other place that I have been able to stash them around the house. This is exactly why the Top 5 group at club has been established, it was an idea sparked by a conversation about these UFO's and the need to tackle them. My stack of UFO's was made very public last year when I presented my quilting journey at club and showed many flimsies amongst my presentation.
Yes some of these flimsies are due to just needing some mindless sewing during semester breaks while I was studying a few years ago and others were waiting for me to up skill myself so I had the techniques and confidence to do the next step without wasting all the work that had been put into it already, nor waste the fabric. There are many reasons why our projects end up in the UFO bin.
However, I digress - last week we had our first show and tell for the first quarter of the Top 5 group and I was incredibly disappointed with myself that although I have been chipping away at this project, it wasn't completed in time for this reveal. It was very exciting seeing everyone else's completions and hearing how long they had indeed been UFO's before graduating to a completion and while I was excited for them all I couldn't go past the fact that I didn't have anything completed.
I tend to over think things and I haven't been able to decide which batting to use for this quilt, which is silly really thinking about it now. The purpose for this quilt is to hang on the wall and once I realised that either of the two choices were going to work there was no stopping me. So Tuesday saw me grab some batting and some backing and I put my sandwiches together.
I had decided a while ago that I would 'quilt as you go' this quilt in four sections. Each block is 25" square and so I decided to just go with that.
Yesterday I cleaned my machine - it sure doesn't take long for the lint to build up - and I couldn't put it off any more. Without thinking too much I just started, I worked out where I was going first and just did it. I decided to stitch in the ditch around the house blocks, the appliqué flower, vine and bird blocks and the pinwheels. The stitch in the ditch will give the wall hanging a good base and some definition as the quilting in the scrappy squares will be different to these areas.
Funny isn't it how you don't notice things when you are putting the quilt top together but notice things as you are quilting them. On the second block I noticed that two leaves somehow avoided the blanket stitch brigade, yet I was so sure that I had checked and double checked everything.
The 25" squares are working very well, they are a very good size to get through the machine while quilting and are easy to turn and roll without too much bulk, they were also a really good size to batt up on the end of the kitchen bench.
Today I will carry on, at this stage I have no idea what I am going to do next but I am sure it will come to me. Until next time, happy stitching everyone.
Donna-Maree
2 comments:
My little grandson's name is Lane and he is coming home here today for 3 nights! Your heading made me smile.
That is so sweet Alison. We need to encourage things that make us smile 😊. There is nothing like having grandies around to keep the smiles coming as well, enjoy as those visits are just so special.
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