Last Friday evening I finished assembling my broken dishes quilt top. The blocks finish at 18", so the assembly went relatively quickly, even though I do pin at each intersection. Measuring 72" x 90", it's a generous twin size. (It's based on
this quilt pattern, but this time I made 20 blocks rather than 12 and I skipped the borders.) This is a good stash buster!
Yesterday I spent several hours prepping the quilt for quilting. It's just like painting....doing good prep work in the beginning pays off in the end. I used spray baste (on the top layer only) to keep things nice and flat. Then I used pins to hold all three layers together. Spray baste isn't my preferred method because it's messy, sticky and smelly, but I wanted extra insurance to avoid the layers shifting. I think it's going to work well!
Inspired by my friend Stephanie, who has been working very hard to learn and up her machine quilting skills, I decided to push myself out of my comfort zone, too. Rather than default to my loop de loop quilting, I'm doing some "cinnamon roll quilting", as I like to call it, instead. I've done this on parts of other quilts before, and on a mini quilt, but it's a big commitment on a twin size quilt. I'm taking a lot of deep breaths and forcing myself to slow down and let go of perfection. (Always a struggle...) I'm already looking forward to the crinkle that this one will have after it's washed! It feels good to be stepping out of my comfort zone...kind of. Hahahaha!
Because it's always fun to hear from you....what is your "go to" quilting design? What is one quilting design that you would LIKE to be good at? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Mmm, the cinnamon roll quilting looks good, and now I'm a bit hungry, too. :) My go-to design is some kind of straight line anything, but beyond that right now I love a good swirl/flower. I keep avoiding learning feathers, and some day I'd love to step out of my comfort zone to learn them.
ReplyDeleteYour quilting looks amazing! My go-to is your "cinnamon rolls" and I worked a long while until I had non-lumpy curves and still struggle with spacing and moving from one area to another, but you know what? Not one person has noticed!
ReplyDeleteI have a wavy stitch on my machine that is my go-to quilting stitch. The machine does all the work so I can really fly!
ReplyDeleteI'd like to learn to do a classic stipple quilting pattern, though. I love the look and the feel of the resulting texture.
I love your cinnamon rolls!
My go-to quilt pattern is cross hatching.
ReplyDeleteYour quilt is beautiful. Lately I have been doing a wavy line with intermittent loops. I hope to practice a lot this fall on different options.
ReplyDeleteI have two basic go-to designs - the loopy meander and the regular old stippling - coral/puzzle piece design (whatever it's called). I also use the pebble quilting fairly frequently as well - though usually not for the whole quilt, but for specific areas. Right now I am trying to figure out how to do flames for a specific quilt - and I want to learn how to do more pointy-edged designs. I have a lot of boys, and I guess I think the more square/pointy quilting patterns look more masculine or something. Love your cinnamon rolls. They look good to me.
ReplyDeleteIts a great quilt and your quilting looks good.
ReplyDeleteI love the bright colors in your quilt and the cinnamon roll motif. That’s a great way to describe it. My go-to motif is the orange peel using my walking foot.
ReplyDeleteI'm SO glad you're back to blogging! I pretty much only quilt with my walking foot and the three-step zig zag....I did some ugly free motion swirls on one quilt, but I just don't quilt enough to practice. I would LOVE to be able to stipple!
ReplyDeleteI seem to gravitate to a meandering loopy quilt design.
ReplyDeletePretty quilt beautiful quilting. Keep pushing yourself. I have been longarming for years and continue to learn and grow. It is a fun process that usually give good results. It's ok to do different quilting styles.
ReplyDeleteWahou ! so nice !
ReplyDeleteYour cinnamon roll quilting design looks lovely!! If using my walking foot - I like to just straight stitch and outline my blocks if possible. I have found a loop de loop that works pretty well for me, if Free Motion Quilting, but my Janome is s.l.o.w - even on the fastest speed, so I tend to get those eye lashes on the back, if I circle too fast. I know about those deep breaths, while quilting :)! You are doing great!
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ReplyDeleteGreat stash buster and orphan block busting quilt. I enjoy loops and circle for overall quilting, and am careful not to get any "speeding fines" by going to fast around the curves. My latest quilts have had wavy lines, sig sags, and crazy geometry. My next quilt will be with Baptist Fans. All my quilting is done on my Janome Sit Down Long Arm.
ReplyDeleteAs for basting,I use hair spray for basting. The stronger the hairspray hold, the better the adhesion. Quick, easy, washable, and non toxic. I spray all 3 layers, let it dry completely and then quilt. No shifting of layers. Note - polyester batting doesn't hold as well with hairspray and will also need pins.
Love your cinnamon roll quilting! Makes me hungry. My go-to quilting is figure 8. I love the flow.
ReplyDeleteThis is one sweet quilt, and the swirls look awesome. I wanted to quilt swirls on a top, so decided to practice on a not so important flimsy sitting on the shelf. It was torture! In the end, it looked just fine, but ....... I like your cinnamon roll swirls and might give them a try. I prefer a more customized approach to quilting and I really struggle with the randomness of overall designs, but my favorite is the feathered flower.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous quilt. Swirls, pebbles and paisleys are my go-to's.
ReplyDeleteYour broken dishes quilt is beautiful...it looks so cheerful and makes me smile when I look at it. I do not do any FMQ, as I was always defaulting to a big, script capital "L". I finally got a computer and do tobotic quilting now, with a variety of patterns, but I am still in awe of you and others who are out there making it up :~)
ReplyDeleteI love your cinnamon roll swirl. I have a hard time with that pattern because my swirls get too pointy. I am uncomfortable with feathers but find that they turn out nicely when I force myself - (some borders almost demand feathers) I did an all over flame the other day on a quilt of valor and love how it turned out - looked like waving in the wind. My most comfortable design is a swirl hook.
ReplyDeleteYour cinnamon roll swirl is amazing! I've never tried one, but it looks very "organic" with your quilt. I always gravitate to a loop-de-loop, but have added a few hearts in between my loops lately.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see this done and crinkly! My go to design is either just stippling or meandering with loops, when I feel fancy I like to do paisleys but tend to make them too small and that means SO MUCH quilting. I'd like to learn to do feathers, my feathers when I try to draw are just not pretty.
ReplyDeleteMy go to quilting pattern is meandering loop-d-loops. I sometimes use press and seal to follow and stitch a special block design. I would like to know what batting you are using in this quilt and what your go to batting is.
ReplyDeleteYour quilt and quilting look great! I liked the name cinnamon roll swirl. My go to quilting design is straight line and curvy line with walking foot. I haven't mastered the free motion quilting just yet.
ReplyDeleteSo glad to see you back in my Inbox. Love the quilt!
ReplyDeleteLove this quilt. How do you iron your seams to keep from having bumpy spots? Open? I love hst patterns, but man, the intersections are not fun to quilt. I love wild free motion quilting--so a little of a lot of things.
ReplyDeleteOh! I didn't realize that you get to quilt on a Babylock Tiara! That would be a game-changer for me. I try really hard not to be envious of quilters who have more than 9" of harp space for quilting. Your design and quilting are beautiful. This design happens to also be my go-to design whenever I want something all over. Otherwise, I usually customize my quilting, always with the goal of getting a quilter to ask me if I own a longarm. I LOVE it when that happens! :-) Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteI’m so happy to get your posts again! Welcome back Amanda Jean. To Momma Llama: I’m so excited about the hairspray idea and I’m definitely going to try it—I don’t like the spray adhesives because they do not wash out and even after I followed the directions on the can and dry cleaned my quilt I could still smell the residue. So I’m still pinning and using that gun that inserts little plastic ties. It works great but you have to keep buying the plastic ties and they are not reusable. I love your “cinnamon roll” quilting and the quilt is looking beautiful. I only have a 7” harp space on my machine so I generally stick to walking foot quilting in the ditch and outline quilting. I’ve pushed myself to learn to do sort of matchstick straight line quilting but it does try my patience :). I guess I lack endurance. I’ve been looking at sit down machines like your Tiara, but at the moment it’s wishful thinking.
ReplyDeleteYour quilt is darling! I love all the bright colorful fabrics and prints. You call it Broken Dishes, but right away I see many pinwheels throughout the quilt. So far, your quilting cinnamon rolls looks great. Have fun and enjoy the process!
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