I shared this Bias Stripes Quilt top (from the Inspired Modern Quilt class on Craftsy) last month and now the quilt is finished!
Elizabeth Hartman's awesome design was really fun to work with using the Sun Kissed Harvest fabric from Connecting Threads. Piecing the top was simple enough and I loved sewing the strips onto the paper foundation with reckless abandon! When it came to the quilting part I was a bit unsure how to handle it. I took Elizabeth's suggestion of an all-over design and chose a simple loop-de-loop. I knew I wanted to use my quilt frame and 1600P to do the quilting and the loops seemed like something easy to accomplish with my limited quilting area.
I had left myself a note on the machine that the tension was at a good setting and it was oiled and ready to go. There were so many issues that last time I used the set-up, quilting the Low Volume Tiles quilt (another Elizabeth Hartman design from the same class!) which I seemed to conquer by the end of that project, so even though I reminded myself that the machine was in good working order, I was a little nervous getting started. But my tension stayed good and after switching to a new purple Janome size 14 needle, I had no thread breaks! It was heaven!
This has been the best quilting on the frame that I've done so far. I guess I AM learning as I go, with each new project. I still referred to my notes to load the quilt but for sure it was the straightest, most even quilt I've rolled up to date! I also learned to take note of my quilting space as I rolled up the top, I was able to handle thread breaks and empty bobbin stops much better, and I even was able to go back and fix a mistake I made after clipping an important thread by accident! My stitches were pretty even and consistent and looked good on the back as well as the front!
It took me about 2 days (of quilting sessions) to quilt my loop-de-loop designs and it seemed to go really fast and painlessly. I feel a little guilty using such an easy design (I feel I should be challenging myself with every new quilt) but you know what? The quilt is done and being used and I love how it turned out! The texture is great and the overall look is clean and modern.
In an homage to my inspiring Craftsy quilting friend, Jose (aka QuiltDude), I decided on my last minute of quilting, to add my signature in thread to the corner of the quilt. I like it! I think I will do that from now on to 'mark my territory' as it were. I also did an experiment on my binding and used my Horizon to add my name and date along the edge. It was a bit challenging to fit it on the narrow fabric and I'm not sure I'd bother doing it again, but it is kind of a neat, hidden bit of information permanently attached to the quilt for ever more. (I still made a label using the matching template for the fabric from Connecting Threads).
This was a really fun quilt to make and took me about 2-1/2 weeks from start to finish. I really love the way it turned out and I can definitely see the improvements in all aspects of construction and quilting - from the accuracy of my cutting and piecing to the quilting to adding the binding and mitering the corners.
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