Sunday, May 11, 2008

I Second That Free-Motion

In the end, Rebel only beat me to meander quilting by about a week. I finally bit the bullet and did free-motion quilting over an entire quilt surface. I used QuiltStorm #4, and here's what it looks like:




And on the flip side....

Fairly crude, plenty of mistakes if you know what you are looking for, but all in all a great learning experience, and that's what these StormQuilts are for after all. It still needs a binding, of course.

For QS#4, I used some kind of synthetic knit back and a flannel sheet for batting. It quilted easily but is, predictably enough, a bit limp and very light -- a summer quilt, perhaps. Meanwhile, I've got QS#2 and QS#1 pinned up and ready to quilt next. I used a thin old wool blanket for batt in one, and a mattress pad in the other, with cotton sheet for backing on both; I think they are going to be both warmer and a bit more snuggly when they are done.

6 comments:

jovaliquilts said...

Congratulations! I haven't yet meandered through a whole full-size quilt, but think I'm going to try soon. I have a good candidate in mind.

Flimsy, lightweight quilts can be a good thing for warm weather. I just purchased one yesterday with no batting of any sort and it's lovely.

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

I think you will find that with cotton backing you won't notice as much puckery look as with a synthetic knit. Also prints on the back hide a multitude of sins.

Libby said...

It looks good! It always looks worse to the person who quilted it, right?

Carin said...

I think your meandering looks great! I haven't braved it myself yet. :O)

Rebel said...

Congratulations!!

It's weird, you meandered differently than I did - it looks more even and sweepier ... which I guess is the point - you know, just meandering, but it's funny how two people can put their own touch on a technique.

Michael5000 said...

@E.C. Yeah, the knit really puckers up a lot! Which makes perfect sense; it's all part of experimenting with different kinds of fabrics. Also, for now, I want to be confronted with my quilting sins, so I can study them and learn.

@Rebel: My meanders here were very spirally and maze-y, for lack of better words, compared to classic free-motion meandering. I'm meandering much the way I doodle.