I finished up the quilting on Sunday morning, and went back to another project I've had on the go, but thought I'd post the results of the sneak peek. Here's the full back:
(pics are clickable for more detail, as usual.)
I made all of the circles entirely out of scraps. The white background is, sadly, a 600 thread count Egyptian cotton sheet, used once, and ruined by me getting into bed before moisturizer had soaked into my skin, thereby ruining the sheet! (Once washed and dried there were blue dots everywhere my well moisturized body had touched. *le wah*) That unhappy accident however, made for a very nice background for this quilt, and I'm happy to say, it's a soft as buttah.
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I need to figure out a way to close off the stitching rather than reversing as you do for clothes sewing. I hate the way those "little bumpies" as I call them look. Generally, I use a finer thread so they're not so obvious, but in this one, I liked the effect of a heavy weight cotton thread - but not the obvious stopping and starting. ARgh! See? SEE????!!!
lol If it weren't for that little problem, I'd be really happy with this little quilt.
How do you handle the "stopping and starting" issue?
Posts
Well, if you ever solve that starting and stopping issue, please let me know, it gets to me, too! However in this case, I don't think that it detracts at all from your beautiful quilt and quilting. Very cool and great job!
ReplyDeleteLove the quilt.
ReplyDeleteThe traditional method of finishing off a row of machine quilting (is that an oxymoron?) is to bring the two threads through to one side of the quilt, tie a knot, thread them both onto a needle, pull down through one of the holes and lodge the knot in the wadding. Bring the needle up a distance away and carefully cut the thread. I've seen video tutorials of this, but can't remember where.
The more modern method is to
"Begin the stitching with a series of 5 or 6 very short stitches and then increase the size of stitches to your chosen length as you continue quilting. When you reach the end of your stitching line, finish with 5 or 6 tiny stitches." http://www.thebluebox.com.au/view/all-about-quilting/tips-machine-quilting/
The first method is a more secure, though the 2nd is faster, especially if you're free motion quilting. I keep a needle with a large eye at hand and bury the threads as I go from the front of the quilt. With practice this method should be invisible. I always plan my quilting so I have the fewest possible number of starts and stops. For example, for the pattern you've done here (which I love btw) I would have joined each row at alternate ends so I could do a segment without stopping, maybe even going on to the next segment.
Janet (Polyquats)
I am learning how to do free motion quilting and I've been watching a set of videos by a woman named Leah at http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/ -- she does one continuous line of stitching, doing something called "travelling" which is sewing over the line of stitching you've already done to get to where you need to do. Watch a couple of her videos to see what I mean. She never ever cuts the thread. I am learning so much from her.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous quilt, btw! I'm montyollie from the LJ Quilting Com... came over here to see your higher res pics!
You are wonderfully talented! What a pleasure to come upon your page!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! I love the circles! I've wanted to make a circle quilt for a while now and yours is so inspirational! I can't believe your quilting...that looks like it took forever.
ReplyDeleteI second what Janet says...bring the two threads to the top and tie and bury the knot/thread. This takes forever, though, which is why I'll stick to stitching patterns that have few starts/stops.
I have done it several ways and janet is right the best way is to have the two ends, knot it and pull it throuh but let me tell you that that takes forever....
ReplyDeleteI love this little quilt!
ReplyDeleteThat is *drop dead gorgeous*! It looks like a lot of work but it is worth all that work isn't it? I have to make a quilt like this - it is so pretty!!
ReplyDeleteI agree that Janet is right. Also the use of white thread on a black background exacerbates the thread build up. Using a finer thread like a 60wt would help. That being said, quilting is a process in many, many ways and this quilt is Fabulous! Well done!
ReplyDeleteKit,
ReplyDeleteWondering if you ever heard from Fiona re: Advent Swap? I've read that its still open and the another that is closed for signups in July.
Laurie
benjean90 (at) comcast (dot) net
Thanks!
The quilt is so pretty from the front and the back!
ReplyDeleteThat thread starting and stopping issue is a problem for me too. I usually decide to overlook those little bumps because I don't want to bother with sewing in the ends. If the quilt is very special, I do take the time to hand stitch the thread ends into the quilt.
What a cute quilt!
ReplyDelete