Tuesday, September 2, 2014

First Adventures in Free Motion Quilting-Splitting Hares




Yesterday was a hoot! I nearly completed my first quilt by machine quilting. What a time savings over hand quilting!

I started by marking the quilt top with the design I thought I would use. I used a quilting pencil, and it was a good thing because it changed half a dozen times. To remove, you just blot with a damp, cool cloth, but then you need to wait until it dries to re-mark it. I thought about a hair dryer, but heat will set some marking pencils and pens. I tried to pick easy designs, but not everything looked right. Finally, I was sure of the center block, and decided to just start quilting.


I went downstairs with the Doxie girls armed with my tea and a couple books of quilting patterns. I hoped inspiration would strike sometime.


I was pleased so far with the center block front, and back, below.



I had asked the family this quilt was intended for if there were any special words they would like included. We finally decided on the lyrics to "You Are My Sunshine", so I put the first 2 lines in the first border. All the starting and stopping meant actually stopping and tying everything off. That was ultra time consuming so I had to rethink the design plan.


Not every idea worked. This one looked simple, but had a learning curve I hadn't anticipated, so out it came after a few inches.


This seemed to be one I could manage--looping and circles.


I added one more row of each after this, and decided my wrist was getting sore from bunching up the quilt to stuff through through the machine. I had to stop and eat. 

Today may not be a quilting day for me. Little Agatha, my daughter's doxie, is staying here today with a hurt back. It's hard to keep dachshunds from jumping, and just a little extra weight can add to the problem. She needs some TLC today. Until tomorrow...

Come on, Doxie girls.
Let's make it a hand sewing day.

Linking up with~
Val's Quilting Archives








2 comments:

Val's Quilting Studio said...

Hi Julie...great post to rejuvinate under our Tuesday Archive theme this week...you bunny/rabbit fabric is so adorable. I love your quilt finish too. Always like seeing close ups of people's work....seriously...you circles look great!

Marcy said...

Beautiful quilting! The quilt is amazing.