Happy Friday and Happy May!
Picture shows a raw edge applique Beagle-like, brown, black, and white dog with a ball wall hanging with up close details of the quilting done to secure the pieces and highlight the details of the dog. The moss green background is quilted with open swirls. The ball is shades of peach and also highlighted with quilting. My customer Bev is an artist with fabric and paint, and her dog wall hanging is so life-like!
Whew, where did April go? Alas. This week I would like to talk about quilting. I often refer to everything I do as quilting and I call myself a quilt artist, but quilting, the term, actually only refers to what happens after the top of the quilt is finished. Once the top is finished it is layered with batting and a backing, and then the whole stack is quilted. As you know I really like all of the parts of “quilting": collaboration with customers, choosing fabric, cutting, piecing, and the actual quilting and finishing. Quilting is special, though, because it is important for the wear and life of the quilt, and the quilting can highlight or provide texture. Good quilting works with the quilt; it doesn’t over power it.
All of my quilting is hand-guided using my APQS Lenni Longarm. I do not have a computerized component to my machine. For T-Shirt Quilts, I usually use a medium meander edge to edge design, which is excellent for avoiding any areas that cannot or are not going to be quilted—I use buttons, pockets, and zippers sometimes in my work, and avoiding those areas during quilting are important. Buttons and zippers, especially the metal ones, will break the needle and possibly damage the quilt, and I like to leave pockets open for use in the quilt. I feel like pockets are fun texture, useful, and give a nod back to the original use of the textile.
The image is of the NC Quilt bottom right corner, showing meander quilting in the blue outer border, and a feather design in the red and blue inner borders. There is also outline quilting in the orange Carolina Lily block with the white background and green leaves. The bear claw block is also visible with special swirls inside the pad of the foot and outline for the nails.
Memory Quilts are similar in that I usually choose an all over edge to edge design (meander loops or swirls or flowers!) unless the quilt calls for specific quilting. For instance, the tree and cone flower quilts received outline work, and an applique barn I recently finished received outlining and ruler work to highlight its details.
The image shows the corner of the quilt folded over, so that the blue and white floral backing can be seen with the custom embroidery label with the letters, “TAL.” The custom quilted gray barn made from clothing is custom outlined and ruler work has been done to highlight the structure of the barn, roof, windows, and doors.
A close up image of free motion hand-guided quilting on a linen hand embroidered floral quilt The quilting is meander loops, and the embroidery is not quilted over.
I also quilt tops for anyone who needs a quilt top finihsed and it requires custom quilting. I can even put already finished quilts on my frame or add machine quilting to already finished hand quilting. Custom quilting is when different parts of the quilt top receive different quilt designs, ruler work, thread color changes, or outlining. Custom quilting really adds character and can highlight details in the quilt. Applique is a great example of a quilt top that benefits from custom quilting.
The image shows a scrappy basket or basket-like flower blocks quilt with outline quilting for the white blocks and baskets and figure eight quilting in the green sashing and borders.
I usually enjoy both edge to edge and custom hand-guided quilting, and my customers always bring me beautiful projects through which I get to utilize my creative quilting mind and hands. I often say, “If I can draw it, then I can quilt it. Stay tuned to see what I get to draw with my needle next! And please let me know if you have any questions about quilting!
Have a beautiful week,
Ginger
I know the world is heavy right now. I like to turn to NPR for my news and an unbiased perspective. Kindness is everything.
Currently Reading: I finished both of my books from last week…The Lord of the Flies was still gut wrenching and heartbreaking. I’m so sad. That book is so timely, and I wish it wasn’t. The Death of the Heart ended the way I thought, so that was no better. I picked up You Can’t Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe (I’m enjoying its heft…reading is like quilting, a tactile experience for me! Wolfe is good with descriptions, too.) and A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny, which were both on my list to read. I’ve read several Louise Penny novels…not exactly cozy mystery, but Armand Gamache is a truly comforting character and Penny’s writing is so, so good. Her descriptions are beautiful and right. And the sprinkles of French make the book a sumptuous read. What are you reading?