Clamshell finished, Field of Flowers

IMG_2980I have really enjoyed sewing all these clamshells together. The instructions were very good, after a while I was able to sew without any pins.P1070219My Field of Flowers is done.  I went row by row placing the clamshells, I know there are people who simply add them willy nilly and the end result is great. I needed a more controlled placement.  Here is the quilt before I squared it off.P1070228For the back I used my least favorite of the fabrics in the quilt, I want to be able to use my favorite fabrics in other projects.  The binding was also made of leftovers.  Btw, this little owl pincushion holds my hand sewing needles. When when one has a lot of pin cushions…P1070231Done! I did a combination of walking foot and FMQ. Yes, it’s crazy, most people will never see it. I did the walking foot on my Babylock because I wanted a wavy stitch. I DO NOT like this Babylock anymore and one of these days will trade it in. It worked ok, but nothing like the JUKI.  I used the Juki for a handful of clamshells that I free motioned.P1070233P1070232In these two examples, if you look closely you can see the difference. Yes, I look closely at these things, I have other friends who will appreciate this as well.P1070237The back looks like this because I was using up fabric and piecing it to fit, no other reason.P1070236And here is my little label. I also need to embroider a nicer label, but this is a start. Now to wash it and put it out in the living room, another quilt for someone to cuddle with.  I think Shira will really like this.

Leah

Quilting

After months of sewing the hexagons together, I needed to think about the quilting.  I knew I wanted some overall quilting that would hold things together well, but would’t overwhelm or underwhelm the quilt.

Lucky for me I had signed up for a great Craftsy class. Creative quilting with your walking foot. Jacquie Gering is an excellent teacher. Most important lesson, it’s a walking foot, not a running foot. Don’t try and sew fast. practice quiltI made the quilt sandwich and practiced. I’ve had the fabric on the left for about 5 years, Yes, I did use some of it amongst the hexies, but this is just one of those fabrics I don’t know what to do with. Perfect for practice, since my quilt top is very busy. I like the way this is looking.quilt backI am using Aurifil thread, no. 40 in a non distcript grey tone. I don’t want the quilting lines to stand out. I want a fluid flowing feeling to the quilt. Something that will soften the hexagon grid. Of course it is easier to see the quilting on the larger patches of the back.P1050312Close up of the quilting. The other very nice thing is, since I am not quilting on a solid fabric, my many imperfections are invisible.P1050339Wow, this is going so fast! In comparison to the hand sewing.  It isn’t easy maneuvering  through the machine. Since I am using a walking foot I can only sew forward – no reverse like free motion quilting. I’m about 2/3 done here and I really like what I’m seeing, or not really seeing.P1050344The area closest to the camera is unquilted. I like the texture, I also like that the colors and the hexies are still the stars here.P1050351Same thing on the back. Sometimes the quilting is meant to be the star. In this case, I need dense quilting but I want it to fade into the background. Many of my hexies had a very scant 1/4″ seam allowance.  I need to anchor it all in place. This isn’t a show piece, this will be my cuddle up quilt on the couch.

As I quilt along I’m smelling the starch, not a bad smell at all. Also as I wrangle it through the machine, the stiffness of the starch is abating, but I haven’t had any problem with the glue basting shifting or coming loose!  I think I’ve got a winner here in my basting technique!

Leah