Time has slipped past me while playing with our new dog and having a fun trip to the Houston show, but I have two new quilts to post here, neither of which is my usual “stuff”.
First of all, while I absolutely love free-motion quilting, I’ve been wondering what it is about quilting in the embroidery hoop that so many people enjoy. So, when my local quilt shop offered a class on how to do this, I signed up. We used Amélie Scott’s technique and designs, but much of what she teaches can be “translated” to other designs. We used our class time to make a wholecloth quilt (this one is about 32″ x 41″), which I’ve finished and bound, though I didn’t have any extra matching fabric for the binding. I didn’t add my usual corded piping, either, since I just wanted to get it done. I have to admit it was really fun and I can definitely see using embroidered quilting for utility quilts or quick baby quilts, but I doubt that this technique will be something I’ll use on a regular basis.
The second quilt is one that I’m less than happy with. I liked it when I saw it in EQ8 software, but “real life” wasn’t as good. Somehow, it reminds me of giant pieces of machinery rotating around each other, but oh well. When it became obvious that I didn’t really like the top, I decided to use it to practice ruler work quilting, which can be a bit tricky on a domestic machine, since you have to move the fabric and the ruler without shifting anything. Once I’d done the quilting, I skipped the piping again and just bound it. This one measures about 36″ square.
