It has been non-stop quilting during my daily sewing sessions each week-day morning for the last few weeks. Two weeks, two quilts quilted!
These two are ready to be bound.
This week, I turned my attention to my sample for The Big Day pattern. It has been waiting for quite some time for its turn 'under the needle.'
I wanted to give this project a little more time and attention than the fast-paced line quilting from the last couple projects (above). I'm combining in-the-ditch quilting with free motion quilting on my domestic machine.
Ditch quilting first!
The practice from the previous two projects have honed my attention to execute almost-perfect ditch stitching, I'm happy to say. You can see the California Quail block, below left, and the ditch quilting around the dark frame, below right.
Because I'm being extra careful on this one, the ditch quilting is slow and deliberate. I did err a couple times and, for this project, I did stop, 'reverse sew,' and fix two out-of-ditch situations.
I started by working my way around the larger outer borders and then the block borders. The further along I get, the more the quilt needs to be bunched, turned, and stuffed through the machine throat. However, the more progress I make, the easier that is, as bulky pins are removed and the quilt-fluff is squished. I stop when I feel I'm about to fall out of the rhythm.
Meanwhile, the last of the quilt tops in this batch, a scrappy Pick-up Sticks quilt, is sandwiched and ready for basting. This pattern is available for free when you sign up for the weekly Good Migrations newsletter in the purple box at the top/right of this page.
I may set aside The Big Day quilting to finish up the Pick-up Sticks project to keep things fresh for both techniques.
But we'll see . . .
Happy Stitching!
Head Hummingbird
Hummingbird-Highway.com
Leave a Reply