Tuesday, February 8, 2011

I had a mini-marathon quilting day yesterday. After my errands and chores were finished, I worked on quilting for the rest of the day. This is the finished blue table runner that I pieced for my little quilting class a couple of weeks ago.

You can't see any of the quilting on it except for a couple of wavy lines along the sides. These are the spines for some fronds I quilted.

I ordered the 2 Diane Gaudynski books on home machine quilting and after studying them a great deal, I decided to use this topper as a sampler and try some of her techniques. My work is nowhere near as good as Diane's but I was quite pleased at how it turned out for a first timer. Here's the back of the topper and I think you can see more detail:

That bump in the center is my attempt at a bird! ;-)
I used a total of 6 of Diane's designs and I will be doing more of this, I think, in order to get better. I've never quilted this densely before because I thought it would give me a very stiff quilt, so I was very surprised after it was washed at how pliable it is.
I also finished putting the borders on the RRCB quilt top. That pieced border took a looooooong time to put together and stitch on. I still am very pleased with how the mystery quilt turned out. I'll put it aside for now and do the quilting later. I have a couple of things that I need to get done in the next few weeks and then I'll be doing some machine quilting on the three tops that are waiting for me. (And I said once that I would NEVER have UFOs lying around the house! Ha!) Here's a pix of the folded top on my dining table--it's so huge that I don't have floor space to lay it out and it's way too nasty outside to hang it from a railing.
Ignore that little circle on the table on the left side. Shortly after I got the table, "some one" set a small cannister of bug spray there and, Voila!, I got a permanent circle on the table. Grrrrrr! I'm waiting for MORE damage to the top before I refinish it. If I have to refinish it, it may as well be because it REALLY needs it!



4 comments:

  1. Wow your quilting looks great. I really need to practice more but I hate to do it on something that I am not keeping for myself. I am so afraid of FMQ. I got one of Patsy Thompsons DVD's. I am going to try her methods on some things. I just need to start doing that. You have inspired me to get with it. Love your quilt.

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  2. Thanks, K. Practice is what it's all about. Don't be afraid--what's the worst that can happen? Just make up a quilt that you know will be your practice piece (use up that really ugly fabric in your stash!) and just start. I know the quilting on that table runner isn't very good, but I don't care since I expected it to be worse than it is. LOL Mastering machine quilting can be a very freeing experience. Barb

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  3. Thanks for your kind words on my blog.
    I am really enjoying this paper pieced project, have not done it before, so a new technique for me. There is a lot more to this quilt, so I don't know if I will have the same attitude later, time will tell. I am looking forward to seeing it finished.
    Patricia

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