In October I started this quilt using the Canning Day fabric line from Connecting Threads. I call it my Thanksgiving quilt because it was my project to stitch over the long weekend at my sister's for the holiday.
What started out to be 'just' a keep busy project has turned into not only a great quilt but an excellent learning tool for 2 things: a pieced back and pantograph quilting. Ever since I took the FREE Creative Quilt Backs Craftsy class I wanted to try Elizabeth Hartman's technique for adding a pieced back to a quilt. I also wanted to try pantograph quilting using my quilt frame on a real quilt. Done...and done!
To make the quilt back for this quilt I simply used the same blocks as the front of the quilt and added a strip of them on the back between 2 pieces of my white backing fabric. I did sketch out my placement of the strip on graph paper in addition to doing the math in order to cut my base fabric correctly. I knew I wanted the strip of blocks to be the same measurement as the front blocks and also I wanted them to be off-centre. I'm really happy with the way it turned out and feel it adds just a bit of interest to the back of the quilt.
Since I have only done cheater quilt panels on my frame I also wanted to try quilting my first 'real' quilt. I learned a lot with this process, including how it feels to quilt over seams! It is quite different than the smooth whole-cloths and I totally knew when I hit a seam - the needle encountered resistance and my grip had to be tighter to control the movement of the handles.
I also had to pay attention to the loading and winding of the 3 layers of the quilt on the frame in order to keep the backing lined up properly. In the past, having only a large piece of patterned fabric, I never really had to worry whether the backing was lined up in any way - the only thing that really mattered was that it was large enough to cover the quilt top. I really wanted the strip of blocks on the back of the quilt to be in alignment with the blocks on the front so I had to make sure that was going to happen once I had it pinned to my leaders.
Not only was this the first quilt I quilted on my frame, it was also the first on which I used an overall pantograph design. I was so nervous to do this on a real project but I knew I had to dive in and just do it! Immediately I had challenges with the edges of the quilt top as I found it difficult to baste the edges and stay off the actual border. I knew some of it would be trimmed off and/or hidden by the binding but I realized right away that I was straying into visible quilting territory!
I started getting big puckers along the edges of the quilt, to my dismay, and I pretty much thought I'd ruined the quilt - there was no way I could hide those big pleats. I did have great success rolling the quilt to the next row and achieved excellent 'nesting' of the pattern with each subsequent row. That part was a challenge to figure out but once I did, I was thrilled with the results!
Because this is not a very large quilt it took no time at all the follow the panto and then have to roll the quilt again. This got a bit tedious and I had to just quilt a couple rows at a time and then take a break. While I am using a simple pantograph design it does take quite a great deal of concentration to follow the line with the laser!
One other issue I encountered was when I got to the last third of the quilt I started running out of quilting area in order to complete my design. As the quilt gets rolled up on the take-up bar there is less and less room to move the machine in order to quilt the design. All of a sudden I started hitting the take-up bar with the back of the machine as I tried to dip down to quilt the lower curve of the 'paisley' design. This resulted in a straight line of stitches rather than the nice curved one. What I did to correct this was 'fake it'...when I got to that curved point in the next part of the pattern I just made the approximate shape by myself, slightly higher than it was supposed to be (and therefore, smaller). It's hard to explain but even though I was no longer following the design with my laser I was at least making a less obvious mistake/alteration than a flat line where a curved one should be. I wasn't sure how obvious this was going to be once I was done but I kept doing it for the last 5 or 6 rows of quilting. I was really surprised I had this happen because my panto is only 6" wide and I didn't think this was a very big quilt. Unless I'm doing something wrong when I start the quilting I guess I'll have to look for even smaller panto designs.
In the end, I trimmed most of the puckers off the quilt and added my binding all by machine. Once I washed the quilt it was nearly impossible to see either mistake - the puckering in the border or the mess-up with the curves of the design. The overall texture is wonderful - not too dense, not too open and the repeating pantograph pattern looks amazing - especially on the back where you can really see the quilting.
This may just be one of my favourite quilts now!
This quilt is beautiful Angie. The colors, the quilting, the back. Everything about this quilt is pleasing to the eye, and to the Soul! Good job Angie!!
Posted by: Ann | January 20, 2013 at 10:03 AM
Thank you so much, Ann! I am loving it - it's on my bed and I just love the texture!
Posted by: Angie | January 21, 2013 at 06:51 AM