Every night around 9 pm, I stop whatever I am doing and take my usual place on the couch and hand-quilt for an hour or two. It isn’t a lot of time, but it sure adds up and I am making some steady progress on Sue Garman’s “Bouquets for a New Day”.
The block I am working on needed a bit of extra-special quilting. The cross-hatching in the background causes anything that isn’t quilted to puff out and look baggy…like the vase.
I am using beige quilting thread for the background. When I am quilting on top of a shape, I like to match the color of the thread to the color of the fabric. If I can’t find the color I am looking for in Dual-Duty quilt thread or YLI quilt thread, I use Mettler 40 weight, which is a machine quilting or hand-quilting weight thread. Mettler 40 weight does not have a coating on it like true hand-quilting thread. So, to make the thread glide through the fabric easier and to protect it from knotting and shredding, I use Thread Heaven.
First I quilted around each point of the star, and then surrounded it with Echo Quilting.
And here is the finished block!
Til next time…
Kerry
Simple Bird Applique 
It’s beautiful! Very inspiring to look at. What do you use to mark your quilting lines?
Thanks! I use a Frixion marker. I started using it last summer to mark Amy’s quilt. There is lots of info on the internet regarding them. As with every marking pen, always do a test first on a scrap of fabric. I find the marks come out very easily and do not leave any residue. However, I know some people have had a faint white mark remain when it is used on a darker fabric.
Thank you! I’m very familiar with Frixion markers as I use them to mark the lines for needle turn applique sometimes. It never occurred to me to mark the quilting lines with it, but it makes total sense.
I love these markers, but I recommend doing a test on a scrap of fabric before marking the whole quilt.
Fabulous! I have missed my hand quilting this past several days with too much going on. Love what you’re doing with this quilt. It’s absolutely beautiful.:)
Thanks, Audrey! Hubby and I are going out tonight, so no hand-quilting:(
Beautiful quilting.
Thank you!
Absolutely gorgeous – the echo quilting is perfect on the vase and I love the cross hatching background!
Thanks!
Absolutely stunning!
Thanks!
Thanks for taking the time to get a picture before during and after your quilting of the vase. It was so easy to see the points you were trying to make. Too, the three comments about the threads were new to me. This quilt is a beauty. Keep on, keeping on.
Thanks. Thread is one of those things that we just take for granted. Most people choose thread based on color alone, but there is so much more to thread than just color. Thread weight is very important!
Kerry
Beautiful!
Thanks! I feel like I may just finish this quilt!
I’m also working slowly on Bouquets For a New Day. I machine quilted in 1/2 inch lines before I started the applique. I’ll still need to do some hand quilting when I get to that point. You have given me some really helpful ideas. I love how your photo shows the finished quilting on the basket. Great job!
Thanks! Do you mean you machine quilted the background before you appliqued? Sounds really intriguing!
Yes, I machine quilted the backing, batting and fabric using my walking foot before I started quilting. I got the idea from a Quilter’s Newletter article from several years ago.
Kay
Wow! That seems like a cool idea!
Kerry, that block looks gorgeous! What a great idea to echo quilt it. Did the number of layers you were quilting through make it very difficult for you?
Yes, in fact, now I know why some quilters trim away the background to reduce the number of layers.
Your quilting looks marvelous! I have a usual place on the couch for handquilting at 9pm too :0)
Great minds think alike!