I finished my quilt top (week 4) for the Old Red Barn Co. quilt-along! I’m really happy with the way it turned out. So far, so good. I bought my batting and backing, so now I’m ready to make my quilt sandwich and do some quilting (week 5). I’m definitely going to do some practicing first, though, because I am scared to death of this part!
I forgot to write about these two small projects that I did a few weeks ago, so here they are.
Simple ironing board cover, made from this tutorial. Really easy and much better than the last one we had! (I would have used a much brighter and flowery print, but my husband objected to having to iron on a board that is pink. Silly husbands.)
A couple of pincushions out of scraps of my quilt-along quilt material. These will be used for my long quilting pins. :)
elizabethcarroll
The quilt top looks fantastic! It’s funny though, because that pattern reminds me of the hatch that we use to indicated compacted subgrade on our construction documents! :)
The ironing board cover and pin covers look great too!
Ellie
your quilt looks amazing! It is so happy! I also love your little pincusions!
Amanda
You quilt top is looking absolutely beautiful!! Have you decided how you are going to quilt it up yet? Or do they give you specific directions for that? :)
Anonymous
“Silly Husbands” – You have more than one? O-o
-Brian
Jennifer
@Amanda: I don’t know what it is called, but I’m going to do the free-style curly quilting. And maybe you know the answer to this question. My machine, in its millions of stitches, has one for stippling, and one for quilting that is supposed to look like hand quilting apparently. I tried out the stippling and the needle moved back and forth from right to left, which I didn’t expect. Do you just use a normal straight stitch when you quilt? What is stippling used for? And how is a hand-quilt-stitch going to be different?
@Brian: I meant husbands in general are silly. I only have one at the moment. Silly.
Anonymous
… at the moment. => You will have more at a later time? O-o
-Brian
Amanda H.
I just use a straight stitch and make the stitch length longer to create the look of hand stitching in a sense. If you are going to free motion quilt/stipple (same thing — different terms) you will need a special foot (darning/free motion quilting foot) and will need to cover or lower your feed dogs to move the fabric around easily.
You can get a generic foot for between $15 and $30…I actually have an extra one that I bought for my Singer that you can borrow if you want. Your machine will need to have a straight peg where the foot goes on rather than slanted one — do you know what yours is? Seriously…if you want to borrow it for a test run on this quilt before buying your own you are more than welcome to it. :)
Jennifer
Straight stitch it is. I don’t understand why you would want the needle moving left and right; to me, that would mess up the pattern you’re quilting.
My machine actually came with a free motion quilting foot, and the feed dogs do go down. So I think I have everything I need, minus some more practice. I’m kind of avoiding it; I haven’t worked up the nerve quite yet. Good thing there’s a timeline to force me to keep going. :)
Amanda H.
I definitely recommend practicing on some quilt sandwich scraps…that is what I did, but at some point you just have to jump in and try it! :) Happy quilting!!