Sunday, February 22, 2015

Still Big Stitching


I'm still big stitching with perle #8 on my full/queen sampler quilt 

Sweet Dreams blocks.
The above blocks were paper-pieced and very troublesome for me. First I couldn't get the paper pattern printed to correct size, then the tension was off (too loose) on my machine and when I took the paper off a couple of the blocks fell apart.   As you can see from that first Sweet Dreams block (upper right quadrant) I had other problems besides...the seam should angle over to the corner and doesn't.  I made it fit to size.  So, right now I'm not a fan of paper piecing. 

Each month the Block Lotto block of the month was revealed and added to the layout. I challenged myself to use scraps (if I had them in selected colors)  and make blocks in complementary colors.  Since my scraps are pretty wild and crazy and I'm pretty much color-challenged I figured the complementary color scheme might give some cohesion to the quilt.    Well, whether the experiment was successful or not...I love the quilt top. (My 5 year old grandson told me "it's fun").   And now I've been big stitching on it in all different colors and having fun with that too. 


I thought crescent moon and star for the witch section would be appropriate and I used a template I used on my 30s butterfly quilt for the outside edges.


The watering cans got a simple flower shape quilted in the middle and you can't really see it all that well but the outside purple area has some zig zag leaf shapes quilting. 


There's mostly straight line quilting in these areas. 


And there's some heart shapes in these circles.   That one on the right looks a little lopsided but that's just the photo.  I wish I would have used a brighter shade of yellow for the background but didn't so I'll just live with it. 


I can say one thing...I'm not bored doing any repetitive stitching on this quilt...and I can say another thing...it actually lifts my spirits looking at all this color each evening when I get home from work and start stitching. 


And speaking of stencils...I want to give a shout out to Martha of Q is for Quilter.  She had a giveaway on her blog for stencils - some of which she is using on her gorgeous String Star quilt.  I was a winner of the four stencils above.   And now I know where to buy more stencils - The Stencil Company!   

It's Sunday and you know what that means...everyone is meeting at Kathy's Quilts for some Slow Stitching


10 comments:

Quilter Kathy said...

What a wonderful slow stitching project! It's so fun to quilt every block differently. Enjoying seeing each photo...thanks for linking up!

deb @ frugal little bungalow said...

All of this color is a sight to see after looking at white snow all of the time! Cheery! :)

Lisa J. said...

The big stitching looks great. I love the hearts. Also appreciate the colour in all this snow.

Carla A Few Of My Favorite Things said...

Congrats to being the winner. Hope to see those in use some time soon. I am big stitching too, it is so much fun and really moves a project along quickly doesn't it. I love it on your scrappy quilts. It really helps to have those big stitches to compete with the prints on those fabrics.

Deb@asimplelifequilts said...

I am enjoying your posts about this quilt so much. They are making me happy too!

Deb A said...

Love how you are stitching each one differently. That moon and star are perfect and the flower and hearts - perfect. I just found some of my stencils and now that I am hand quilting I can finally use them!

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

the stencil company has a lot of great stencils I have a ton of them. Love your big stitching!

CathieJ said...

Congrats on your stencil win!

Vivian said...

Love all the big stitch quilting you are doing --- I really have to try it! This is a joyful quilt!

Nicole Painchaud said...

I've been working on the same quilt, mine is queen size. I found the paper piecing one was the hardest as well. Can't wait to show you mine when I get all the blocks done first ;)