Are you sick of work-in-progress pictures of this quilt yet? 'Cause sorry, here come a few more.
The quality of my hand-stitching varies wildly. I fear the stitches are a bit large in places, especially where I have used thicker fabrics.
This is a bit smaller and neater. I'm just winging it, really. Using a hoop most of the time. Any hints or tips would be very welcome. I learnt to use a thimble fairly quickly (and painfully).
I've quilted 13 of the 25 squares so far, at a rate of not quite one per day. Slow-and-steady. Doesn't make for very fascinating blogging I'm afraid.
Here's a cute pic of a sleeping boy as a reward for ploughing through the quilting post.
- Jane x
Don't worry, the tortoise wins in the end :)
ReplyDeleteThe hand stitching looks great! I love the look of hand stitching and wish I knew how to do it. One day I'll learn perhaps...
Thanks! I am pretty much using Anna Maria Horner's tutorial for hand quilting, found somewhere on her blog. Only she uses lovely embroidery thread. I thought that would be way too busy for this quilt though.
ReplyDeleteI'm working on hand-quilting right now too! It's funny, it seems to take forever, but like you, I can do a couple squares in a sitting, and one day you look at it, and you're almost done! It's great to do while watching bad tv. In my world, anything that can be done while watching bad tv, thus making me feel like that time is slightly more productive, is a great thing.
ReplyDeleteLookin' good!!
So, does AMH do the needle "rocking" technique? When working with fine quilting thread instead of embroidery thread, you can pick up a couple stitches at a time, which makes the process go faster. I know she doesn't do that with her quilts bc the thicker thread makes it infeasible. But if you want to check it out, I bet there are tons of resources online (I learned it from a book myself).
Everytime I make a quilt, it's easy to see the "starting point" because the stitches are uneven, huge, and generally terrible. Then I get the hang of it, and they get better. But do I rip out those bad stitches? Nah. It's part of the folksy charm to me.
Repeat after me: Imperfect = Folksy.
(Sorry, giant comment!)
Ah, no apologies necessary, I love a giant comment, thank you! Yes I am trying to embrace the imperfect... the whole quilt is such a mish-mash, I think the 'folksy' look is just right for it. And no fear of incurring the wrath of the gods by making something perfect, ha! AMH does suggest that with practice you can do a few stitches at a time. I have managed two at a time. I wouldn't call my technique 'rocking' (in any sense!) but it is getting better. And yes, I have been enjoying some bad TV whilst doing this. 'Embarrassing Illnesses', anyone? GOLD!
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