Friday, July 18, 2014

It's Been a While...

...since I posted anything about my alphabet stars quilt. My mistake for not sharing the progress I've made on it so far! 

Over two months ago, I finished all the FMQ on the top. I knew from the start that I wanted fairly dense quilting and was planning on all of it being concentrated in the black spaces on the quilt.


After all, I reasoned, if I'm using black thread then my mistakes won't be terribly obvious! Brilliant thinking, right? But as I spent what felt like hours doing FMQ "straight" lines,  I came to the sad realization that all this work was going to stay relatively invisible on the front. Head smack.

But, I plowed through and got it done working on and off through a long weekend. When I finished up, I knew immediately that the star centers needed some extra attention. In an hour, I went through the whole alphabet and did some FMQ flowers with white thread. I really like the loopiness alongside the straight lines!


So what the heck is taking me so long, you might ask? One final quilting element - I decided to hand quilt the inside of each star with variegated perle cottons in 6 different shades. I love the effect, but I am definitely a sloooow hand sewer.


At my speed, this will last the rest of the summer. But I think the effect is so worth it, I don't mind taking things easy!  It's come on vacation with us, so maybe I'll get more than a few letters done sitting lakeside.


Enjoy your summer everyone!

6 comments:

  1. Isn't it tricky finding the balance between thread that won't show every "mistake" and one that will disappear? It's coming along beautifully... who cares how long it takes!

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  2. The tone on tone quilting adds lovely texture! The quilting blends in, but it adds so much to the quilt. That perle cotton detail is lovely! Such a nice touch.

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  3. Wow! That is a lot of amazing quilting! I am impressed to begin with all the straight line quilting. I would have sewn black straight lines right through all those star points! That is a lot of starts and stops!! And the hand quilting does look gorgeous!

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  4. I love the bright colors. So pretty!

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  5. This is going to be fabulous!!! Once you get in the rhythm your hand quilting speed will increase... and it's a wonderful way to relax and enjoy the summer:-)

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  6. OMG! This is so lovely. With your free motion quilting and handing quilting this is my absolute favorite. Anyway I am sucker for Alphabet quilts, alphabets fascinate me. This pattern is just awesome!

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