Quilting problems solved!

How many times have we seen comments on blogs which say, 'Love the top, but how are you going to quilt it?' I've bought a book which has lots of answers to the question. It's called 'Quilting makes the Quilt' by Lee Cleland (and was recommended in 'Quilters' Newsletter magazine') and it's fabulous! Lee chose 12 traditional quilt patterns, such Le Moyne Star, Log cabin, Square in a Square, Irish Chain etc. and made each one FIVE times in identical fabrics! (I would have given up the ghost long before this stage!) Then she quilted each quilt in a different way, and has beautiful photos which show the effect the various patterns have had on the quilt. Amazing! If it were merely a picture book, that would be enough, but there is more. There are patterns for the quilts and the quilting designs, and lots of tips on marking up quilts, how to make patterns fit on borders, dealing with corners, enlarging designs and machine quilting tips too! I can hardly recommend this book enough, and there are copies available on http://www.amazon.co.uk/ for £11. Bargain.

It's a quilt!

What was I doing on March 15th, National Quilting Day? Well, what would I be doing, except quilting! I was finally quilting the borders of my BQL Ostrich from 2006. Note the lovely mug DS bought me for Christmas containing my essential supplies of tea!

The good thing about this quilt is that it was essentially a frame quilt, and so I quilted each frame individually. I started in the middle, and hand quilted round the applique, to give a softer look, and then stipple quilted in the spaces. I suppose some cross hatching would have looked good, but maybe a bit too formal. Anyway, it's too late now, and I think the stippling makes the applique stand out nicely.

Then I did mainly in the ditch on the geometric sections, as I think the design can be blurred with too much all-over quilting. Besides, I like my quilts a bit cuddly, not stiffly quilted within an inch of their lives! There is meander with flowers in the pale blue hand-dyed section, but I don't hink you can see it. The border was quilted with free machine feathers, which gives a touch of extravagance to the edge. I marked in the curves with a white pencil and then just went for the feathers as they came. The two sides of the feathers don't match up, but since when was Mother Nature symmetrical?!Here is the completed quilt. I started it in 2006, so it's only been two years in the making. Quite quick really!