The last quilt top I made has been languishing for months. I knew I had to quilt this one ASAP or the mojo would be gone again.
I was able to piece together the batting, literally using practically every inch of it. And then, started quilting. For a while I worked with rulers, these days, close enough is good enough. I am not entering shows, my quilts are to be used and this quilting is much better than just an overall pattern.
The quilting is done, went very quickly, just a little over a day. Ahh the joy of making small quilts.
I kept on taking pictures of the corners, I’m not sure why. I had hoped to have enough of the bright print fabric for the binding. I didn’t. So just like I improvised with different fabric in the background, I introduced a whole new fabric for the binding.
Bright yellow with a slight green overlay. I like how it makes the quilt pop. Oh
, I went ahead and was going to use my walking foot for the binding. Lo and behold, I couldn’t get the feed dogs to re-engage. I tried! So this morning the machine made a trip to the repairman.
Sorry about the fuzzy image, I took all kinds of pictures, and to be honest, don’t feel like pulling out the camera again. You do see how well the yellow works.
Anyway, I went back to Sewing Machine Warhouse. I wasn’t crazy about them, but simply don’t feel like driving up to the shop on Honolulu ave. Not worth the gas. They asked for a $90 deposit, fine, I asked if this goes towards the service. A simple question. Out comes some guy and gives me a whole lecture about people coming in with garbage machines and if it costs too much to repair – they recommend a new machine. I’m standing there staring at my Juki 2010 – it isn’t not a machine from Costco, it isn’t garbage and it’s not that old…
My rack isn’t great, it’s a little small for displaying the quilts, as you see, it falls over, so here is your chance to see the backing. This is almost the last of the bolt I bought for $20 before the pandemic.
Anyway
, to say I didn’t appreciate the lecture is an understatement, just say, yes, whatever you expense is – that $90 goes towards that… they better do a good job – or it is back to Honolulu Ave despite the gas price.
A quilt is three dimensional, so why not photograph it that way.
I do like how from this angle you really can see the quilting patterns. I used the wool batting, and that helps define the quilting.
Another good look at the texture. I had a lot of fun quilting this. the ideas for the patterns just sort of came as I moved out from the center. Using wool batting is also a really nice way to quilt
, it is much easier for the needle to go up and down and not get caught and dragged in the fibers.
Quilting really makes a huge difference, from a somewhat boring flat object to a textured piece. It really helps the bright pieces pop out from the back ground. I guess this is why I love quilting. Every stage matters.
notice how the quilt matches the owls? Perfect.
Leah