Category Archives: hand quilting

Storm at Sea and a Quilt

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After yesterday’s post, I got out my stitching book. Then out came some of the extra pieces for a Storm at Sea block and I began arranging them to see if I liked the look of them all mixed up. I think doing the remaining blocks like this is going to give a lot of motion to the quilt. The ones that are 2-fabric blocks will remain as the centre or perhaps the outer edges of the quilt. That’s still to be decided.

Having a stitching book like this is fabulous. I can lay out my block and then just close the book and, as I used batting for the pages of the book, the pieces will remain there until I open the book up again and begin to stitch. I took two appliqué blocks that I wasn’t going to use in a quilt, layered them with batting and backing, quilted it in a 1″ cross-hatch and then bound it. Then I added pages made from batting.

This bow-tie quilt hasn’t been seen for ages. It’s a queen-sized quilt made up of 3″ blocks. I had started to quilt it quite a while ago but ended up putting it away once I realized there was a problem with the basting and that I was going to have to take both my quilting and the basting out, press it as pleats had been basted in and then start over. It has been on my mind the last little while and I finally dragged it out yesterday. While I’m not planning to work on it this weekend, it will be done over the next couple of weeks.

I mixed up everything in this quilt – batiks, checks, plaids, ’30s fabrics, florals, you name it. The only constant was the muslin. Looking back, I can’t believe I traced all those pieces from templates.

When we have cereal in the morning, Baxter loves to have a bit of the milk. He’s not shy about asking for his share, either. If we’re not quick enough, a paw is quite likely to reach up and try to snag our spoons just to remind us that he’s waiting.

26 Pickled Ladies

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The fourth row is now added. They’re easy to put together, thanks to the stitching liens and matching points.

It’s a little difficult to tell from this photo, but the intersection where they meet is easy to press by pressing one of the arcs over the other beside it and then pressing the one below it over both of those.  It may look a bit bulky, but it actually isn’t.

Quilting on the Ferris Wheel quilt is going rather slowly but I am getting it done. Baxter is insistent on helping whenever there’s a quilt on my lap, whether I’m quilting or tacking down binding. At one point last night, he was right under the hoop. He seems to think it’s play time as he attacks my hand that’s underneath the quilt.

Something to Stitch, Something to Unstitch

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Remember this, the Ferris Wheel quilt? That’s the project that involved unstitching. I had quilted about a third of it by machine and then decided I wanted to quilt this one by hand. So I’ve spent a number of hours over the past couple of weeks taking out the machine quilting. Now I’m trying to decide how I want to quilt it.

For a change of pace, I’ve started stitching a cross-stitch project. It’s almost a quarter done already. This one is going to be a small Christmas biscornu.

Baxter did very well and we picked him up at 3:30 yesterday afternoon. I had to laugh at the post-surgery instructions. They stated we should keep him as quiet as possible. A rambunctious kitten who’s only 6 months old and showed absolutely no signs of being groggy from the anaesthetic we’re supposed to keep quiet? Within minutes of getting home, after sniffing around to make sure things were where he thought they should be, he was bounding around, getting toys out of the toy basket, jumping up on the windowsill to watch the leaves and that went on all afternoon and evening. We’re thrilled he came through the surgery so well and showed no after-effects. Here you can almost see the spot that was shaved for the IV on one front leg.

Taking Out Quilting

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A while ago I started quilting Ferris Wheel by machine. Then I got back into hand quilting and am now thinking about taking out the machine quilting and replacing it with hand quilting. The reason I want to replace it with hand quilting is that there’s a quilting design I want to use that will be easier for me to do by hand than by machine.

What I’m wondering is if there is a quick way to do this or if it’s just going to be a painstakingly slow process of taking it out stitch by stitch. Thankfully, only 3 of the blocks have been quilted so far. Has anyone done this? Any tips?

Baxter was lounging on the windowsill shortly after having had a drink of water. The wet fur on one side of his neck is a sure giveaway that he has been at the water bowl.

Stormy Seas Blocks 15 & 16

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Two more of the Stormy Seas blocks are done and added to the group. Only 26 more blocks to go. That in itself is enough to encourage me to stitch at least parts of the blocks by machine.

This second block is one of my favourites.

Over the past week I have been doing a lot of hand quilting on the whole cloth quilt. So much so that the finger on the hand beneath the quilt is getting really sore. I’m going to try wearing a very thin, flexible leather thimble on my finger underneath the quilt to see if that helps when quilting. Now that I’m back in the habit of hand quilting, I don’t want to stop because of a sore finger.

Baxter hanging out on the quilt on the couch with some teddy bear friends.

Twinkling Star

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There are a few of these twinkling stars already made that have been sitting for ages and which will be made into a small quilt. I decided to make one more last night just for fun, and because I’m playing with a design idea that would use this block, among others, in a starry quilt. The block is made using shapes from the Inklingo Tumbler collection and it finishes at 5″.

It’s simple to stitch and quick to press.

A comment was left the other day and a few follow-up e-mails exchanged that have led me down a fun path, reading about treadle sewing machines. I’ve often thought that would be a great way to machine quilt. The more I read, the more I think that it’s a great solution for me. Of course, it’s much easier said than done — finding one that’s in working condition and affordable and then sorting out how to get it here, as I think they are very heavy. I plan to do a lot more reading and research on the weekend.

We finally got some video of Baxter drinking. This is how he drinks all the time. He walks up to the water bowls, turns around, lies down and then reaches over his shoulder to drink. When he’s done one side of his face and neck are usually sopping wet. If we’re not in the kitchen, he meows to let us know he’s about to drink and then looks to make sure we’re paying attention. A friend who has seen this little video wrote and shared her theory, “I think Smudge told Baxter that drinking water is a performance art form.  Baxter had to develop his own art, but it couldn’t be something mundane like standing in front of the bowl of water and lapping – it had to be unique.” I think she’s on to something!

Scrappy Star, Round 4

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The star is growing. I’ll keep adding rounds until it’s wide enough for a lap quilt. Then I’ll sort out how to add length to it, possibly with a couple of rows of small stars at the top and bottom. The round of squares isn’t added yet, but that’s not going to take long. It’s adding the diamonds in each round that takes the longest, particularly as it grows in size.

Over the years, I’ve tried numerous thimbles for hand quilting and, while some of them have seemed better than others, all of them have eventually resulted in hand issues for me. Then I heard about this, the hand-held quilting thimble from the House of Quilting. After about half an hour of practising with it, I was thrilled. It’s simple to get used to, makes it easy to get small even stitches and doesn’t seem to cause any hand fatigue. It’s even easy to quilt through intersections where many seams meet. Over the next few days, I’ll spend some more time getting used to it and then it’s going to be time to get started on that stack of 14 tops waiting for quilting.

Baxter’s markings are starting to show more and more. He has two rings, one on either side, just at his shoulders which I’ve dubbed the Baxter crop circles. This photo was taken as he was resting up, waiting for yogourt time.  Yes, we have another kitty who loves a yogourt treat. When he sees the yogourt container come out of the refrigerator, he practically climbs up our legs to get his treat.

Small 9-Patch Blocks

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In one of the boxes, there are many, many squares just waiting to be stitched.  I started making some little 9-patch blocks that finish at 3″. There’s something about making 9-patch blocks that I find really appealing.

I keep thinking about making a red and white 9-patch lap quilt. That won’t happen until the red and white Feathered Star/Sunflower quilt is done, but it’s definitely a quilt I want to make.

Baxter seems to think these blocks are meant for him, so perhaps I’ll make a few more and he’ll have his first little quilt. I’m thinking of making a grey, white, black and pink quilt for him, but haven’t quite decided on what pattern. In the meantime, perhaps a little 9-patch quilt will suffice until he’s fully grown and I get the other quilt made.

A Bevy of Small Stars

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Making these stars is another one of those go-to projects for me when I’m tired and want an easy stitch. They’re made with 1″ diamonds and are so quick to stitch that one can get half a dozen or more done in next to no time. These were made last night.

They press beautifully. You can just see Baxter’s paws at the side, as he was trying his best to get included in the picture.

And then they got added to all these. The box in which I keep the finished stars is getting full, so I think I may have to start playing with a setting soon and have a couple of ideas I’ll try out.

Yes, it’s another quilt(s) in a box project. This box has 2 rows deep of the little baggies, each full of the diamonds for stars. I have no idea how many hundreds of stars I’ll end up with, but I have plans for a couple of different settings.

As usual, Baxter was right there amongst the fabric when we were taking photos.

Earlier in the day he was playing with Cappy. While the picture is a bit blurry, as he was moving, it really shows how much he’s growing. Yesterday was the first time he’s really played with Cappy. Within a few hours it was evident this is now his favourite toy. He was even sleeping with his head on it at one point.

Bright Yin Yang Blocks

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I just couldn’t resist and had to see how the Yin Yang block would look in brights as well as the spice fabrics. These blocks may be the beginning ones for a stitching book cover or, who knows, maybe I’ll make a small Yin Yang quilt of primary colours.

I still can’t get over how wonderfully the blocks press, so have to show the backs:

Yesterday I had a link to the collection in my post, but it didn’t work.  Here’s the correct link for the Yin Yang collection.

Sleepy Cat Hollow left a comment on yesterday’s post with a suggestion for another name for the Spice or Chocolates and Caramel quilt that I loved — Contented Kitty, saying that it looked like Smudge curled up in his kitty bed.  So now I think that quilt will end up being called Contented Kitty.

Smudge likes to lounge by the water bowls before he sticks his head right in the water.  Mr. Q.O. got this shot of him just before he moved over and put his head in one of the bowls and was dripping wet.