Sunday, November 25, 2018

Marking a quilt - Becky's quilt

I hope everyone had a safe, relaxing Thanksgiving break filled all the things that make you grateful.  I spent a little time in Indiana with daughter number one.  We chilled, did a puzzle, cooked, watched some football and just enjoyed the little time we had together, very grateful.   I normally like to share finishes for the week but well, Becky's quilt is gonna take a bit of time! It's a big one and takes up the entire frame.  So I thought I'd share what I have completed and show how I mark my quilt and things that work for me.  Will you just look at this beauty?

Becky and I had a few discussions, tweaked things along the way and she ended up with this design.  Lots and lots of work.  Really underestimated the amount of time, but it's going to look gorgeous when its' done! This monster of a quilt has two layers of batting, Hobbs heirloom  on the bottom and Hobbs wool on top.  Gives great definition don't you think?
two layers of batting, Hobbs heirloom  on the bottom and Hobbs wool on top.
Once we got the design down, then the thread choices were needed.  I picked a few that I liked, a pale blue for the white triangle and light colored blocks, then a medium and dark grey for the other blocks. Becky likes blue, so I found a couple of blues in my thread stash went with those. No worries if you don't like a thread color.  I have an amazing thread stash and I'm not afraid to use it!! When choosing a thread color, I always take just one strand of thread and lay it on the quilt, this will give a much better idea of how it will look with all the different shades. You can see that pale blue looks almost white, that dark blue doesn't look as dark as I thought it would on the darker blocks, but it's dark enough and works great.  All thread top and bottom, 50 Wt So Fine.
first pass at threads
final mid color, just love it
final dark color 
pale blue for the light blocks and white triangle.   All thread, top and bottom So Fine 50 wt. 
Then it's on to the quilting.  I rarely start with the border first.  The quilt usually has to warm up to me a bit before it lets me know what would be best on the border.  This quilt was no exception.  I think by the time I finished the first row before I had any ideas.  So lets start with the blocks and how I mark them.  The Hexies first.  I have circle rulers but they are full inches, 3 in or 4 in, neither of course was good enough for me.  I exercised some restraint and didn't go out and purchase a new set of circle templates that were half inch rather than full inch.  I searched and searched for the right size and lo and behold I found this sweet little bowl that looked just about right, and yes indeed, it's 3.5 inches, just what the quilting gods ordered!  Got out my template plastic and make my own circle for marking.  Just put a dot in the center and it's good to go.
Using template plastic, I traced the bowl, cut it out and marked the center


I find the center of the block, then trace the circle, then mark the grid.  I don't mark the feathers, I know I want them to go all the way from the center to the edge so no need to mark.   I free hand the circle (if that didn't go well you can bet I would have ordered a new set of 1/2 circle rulers :)  But since its the spine of the feather, if it's not completely round, it's ok.  If I would have an echo of the circle, you bet I would need a ruler. But not echo, no ruler required for me.  I also mark the squares in the grid that will be filled.  I would lose my mind if I didn't. I also don't have stitch regulation on for the fill, so those stitches can be really tiny and hard to take out.  I just put a little blue dot in or a slash in the squares to be filled.
you can barely see the dots for the squares that get filled. The lights on the longarm are plenty bright to see the dots
Starting the feathers, that first plume can be hard.  I generally start where there is the shortest distance from feather start to tip of feather.  In this case any where that isn't going into a hexie point.  I will stitch half a plume (actually a tad bit less that half) and aim 1.5- 2 hours past where I start.  So if my needle is on 3:00, I will aim the tip of the feather to be at 4.30- 5:00.  This gives a nice arc and a nice incline for the feather.  Once I have the one block complete, that's what I use as reference for the next.  I just look at where I am and where the plume ends up, making any tweaks I need.  Generally that works really well.  As you get close to the starting position, you just need to keep an eye out to judge the last 2-3 plumes.  Keeping the plumes a little thinner helps in the estimation and slant a bit. 

On the lighter blocks I like the fine tip blue marker.  I mark a few blocks, stitch and then remove the markings with Spritz of 1 cup water + 1 tsp baking soda.  This helps to neutralize the marker.  I  like getting it right away, it seems to come off a bit easier if it hasn't set there all night.    If there is any concern about fabric running I don't spritz near that area. Instead I will take a scrap piece of batting wrap it over my finger, I put a drop of water on it and rub lightly on the marker.  This works well but doesn't soak any fabric that may run.  On this quilt I was concerned about the dark blue.  She used a layer cake and thus wasn't pre-washed (hmmm well I don't pre-wash even if it's a big piece....I know I know, I 'm tempting fate) so I wanted to be extra careful around that dark blue.   And that just about wraps it up for the hexie blocks
If you look close you can see where I marked the center and a / in the  blocks that need fill, if I used a dot, it would just blend in!
Next up those triangles.  I mark the whole thing.  I stitch the first arc, with the ruler, quilted pineapple 12, then I  stitch the pearls.  I find figure 8 stitching for the pearls doesn't work as well for me.  So I just make circles, and always go back long the side that is stitched already.  I also found that the pearls were better if I didn't stitch the line above until after the pearls were stitched.  I stitch the pearls, then the line above them, then go to the interior triangles.   But I always mark all of the lines to be stitched on this one with the thin blue marker.  Even though I mark the lines, I still use the ruler to stitch all the lines with the exception of the grid on the inner triangle. Those are small enough I can follow the line without a problem

Now that only leaves the border. I wanted a garden feel, and I think it looks like flower buds and  the bead board, hoping it looks more like a picket fence around the garden :)  I always take a picture of how I mark and stitch the top border.  I know when I get down to the bottom I'm not going to remember, so the top and how those corners are done is very important for pictures..  On this quilt I use the same ruler on top as in the triangles.  However on the side I need a smaller ruler and the quilted pineapple number 8 works perfectly.  I marked the curve on top, but on the sides, I'm not marking it.   I will mark the corners but that's it.  I also mark the edge of the quilt every inch.  For this I use Judi Madisens' ruler.  One of the few that actually have numbered inches on them. Comes in pretty handy and was surprised how few of the others actually have numbers. 

The back of this quilt is a solid blue (just like the last border).  Usually I have the bobbin thread color different from the top and blending with the backing.  But this time, I thought it would be interesting to have the different color flowers showing on the back.  I think I really like it .

And there you have it.  Every gory detail on what I do for all this quilting.  Hope you enjoyed it and mostly I hope something in this post has helped you in some way.  Have a great week and don't forget to join the linky parties on the side bar.   Oh forgot to mention I also used chalk on the darker colors. I have a chalk pencil and the pounce pad.   I used Deloa Jones 1/2 grid, made marking really fast with pounce pad!  At the end of day I'm always surprised by how many things are laying on top of the quilt!  Rulers and markers are always moving around on that quilt top!

Oh hold on, one other thing.  I pulled my fabrics for Bonnie's Good Fortune Quilt (see the side bar button) .  Pretty excited to get this one started, love all those tiny pieces!!  Part 1 link up for Bonnie's Good Fortune Mystery is here

15 comments:

  1. The definition in your quilting is amazing. It is so interesting to see all the steps involved. Beautiful work!

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  2. You deserve a MEDAL for not buying another set of circle templates, Sue, and you also deserve for Santa to put them in your stocking... ;-) This quilt is magnificent, and this post is EXACTLY what I needed to read today. I had no idea that experienced quilt goddesses like you did that much marking for ruler work. I thought you were supposed to just plop those rulers down and start stitching, but of course then you get off ever so slightly with each line and end up off by a LOT by the 3rd or 4th row of stitching. There is a wealth of information here and I'm pinning it to refer back to later. My questions: 1. How high is your hopping foot set and do you need to move it up and down when you switch from single to double battings and back again? APQS Tech Support helped me adjust my foot to one business card off the stitch plate with the needle in the lowest position, but she mentioned something about quilters who raised theirs up 2 or 3 cards for quilting with double batting. 2. Do you do anything special in your loading process to manage the two layers of batting, or just shove them in there together and hope for the best? Do you spray baste the two batts together before loading or anything like that? 3. I'm trying to make out your order of quilting from the photos. It looks like you've done a partial float, and it looks like you are completely quilting each area of the quilt prior to advancing to the next section rather than SID around all of the hexies in the entire quilt before going back to the top to do the fancy quilting. Is that correct? Did you SID the border seams of the whole quilt first, or do you generally start at the top and keep going to the bottom? Finally, with the borders, how do you know those arcs are going to land in the right spot at the bottom of the quilt? Did you mark all of the border arcs before quilting any of them, or did you calculate that from piecing seamlines as reference points, or are you rotating the quilt to do the side borders in a single pass at the end? Thanks for sharing your methods. Your quilting is breathtaking!

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    1. Normally I reply to the individuals on comments, but Rebecca Grace asked some really good questions so I thought I would share my answers with anyone that might be interested...

      LOL, you have no idea how hard it was not get those new tempates. I've got so many rulers.....But yes I did some improvising and got the job done! I always love your questions. I"m going to reply to this on the blog as well. I bet others have similar questions. So lets see if we can get some answers here....


      1 How high is your hopping foot? A dime (roughly 3 business cards). I don't adjust it for two layers of batting it all works great at this height. Both my APQS and my A1 are at this height for all battings

      2 Do I do anything special in the loading process for 2 layers of batting? I lay the first layer of batting down, like you normally do, make sure it is smooth and straight. Then I lay the second layer on top and make sure it is smooth and straight on top of the second one, then put the top on. As I roll, I will check both layers to make sure they are smooth before I roll and give a good tug on both of them after I've rolled. Making sure they are smooth prior to rolling was more important on the APQS. On the A1 I can raise the bar that has the quilt rolled on it and check the batting making sure it's all good. But no spray basting, nothing, just lay them on top of each other, they will stick to each other nicely just the natural fibers.

      3a. Do I baste the entire quilt or do a section at a time? I generally will do a section at a time. I do the stitch in the ditch for the entire row, which on this quilt is good, and no additional basting required. Then I do the details. I baste the the sides down as I go. So on this one, I had the top border and side borders basted, I quilted the borders last in the first section simply because I had no idea how that was going to be quilted.

      3B. How do you know where those arcs are going to land...The borders are point to point, on top the arc are center of hexie to center of hexie, similarly on the sides, center of hexie to center of hexie. The reason they are different size arcs is simple the height vs width of the hexie. Since it's center to center they meet at a point in the corner. Because they are point to point, I know it will work out when I get to the bottom!! If it were a different border, a feather with a serpentine spine, there would be some extra calculations and measurements required, or simply turning the quilt to finish the borders. But I much prefer doing it as I go along as opposed to turning a quilt, especially a quilt this big! I marked the first set of borders as a delay tactic! I still wasn't really sure, and it gave me time to think a bit. Since it's a single arc, and there's nothing I can change now, I most likely will not mark any move of the arcs. Of course if I do one that gets sloppy, I"ll pull out that marker for sure!

      Hope that helps! And thanks for asking.

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  3. You know how we all kept baby books for their future reference as our children were growing up? Well, you’ve just created THE most INCREDIBLE ‘baby book’ chronicalling the real ‘birth’ of my quilt, and I cannot thank you enough! I plan on printing off each image, each word, each glorious step of this miracle of craftsmanship you’ve performed on my simple ‘little’ quilt, turning it in to a masterpiece, and pass it along to my granddaughter, who will one day inherit it - and live on from generation to generation!!! Thank you, Sue, for all your TLC. I’m looking forward to a long working relationship with you! Bless you for sharing your talents and gifts with those of us who can merely stitch a straight seam!

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  4. Green with envy. On the other hand I do not have the patience to even try to learn your techniques. But, I surely enjoy seeing your work.

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  5. Beautiful. Question, do you baste the whole quilt before starting on the design? Or do you baste and quilt one section at a time? I'm still new to LA quilting and I have tried both ways. When basting the entire quilt first, I dont like the way the top bunches at the take up bar.

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  6. Hi Sue! Yowza! What a wonderful post and I'm SO glad I checked back on Beth's website to find this today. I absolutely LOVE reading about how other quilters go about the quilting process. I hope you daughter loves and appreciates all the time you are putting in on this quilt! I know Becky does, and I know Becky is worth every second. We all have some quilts that we don't put a lot of time into quilting, and this is definitely not one of them. I just have spent the afternoon doing a little feather work myself, and only hope to get as good as you someday. I look forward to checking out your blog - I'm going to start following you to keep up on all the fun projects and dets!! Happy Happy Monday to you. ~smile~ Roseanne

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  7. This is a really great post Sue! Thanks for taking the time to show us how you work. This is a lovely quilt.

    LuAnn Kessi
    luannkessi.blogspot.com

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  8. I have read and re-read this post several times. It's full of so much valuable information! Thank you for breaking down your process, it's always so interesting for me to see how other LA's approach the quilting of a quilt top. Like Rebecca Grace, I am always surprised at how much marking the pro's do and it helps me to know that. I guess I thought that you just grabbed your rulers and took off! Now I know it's okay to do that much marking and it's not just something this newbie has to do. :) Thank you for sharing all your info Sue and for linking your post to Main Crush Monday!

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  9. You have the mastery and the talent to turn a simple design into a masterpiece. It is magnificent!!

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  10. I've used blue markers for decades, but this is the first time I learned about adding baking soda to the water used to remove the ink. Thanks for the tip. It's quilters like you who make me long for a ruler foot. Unfortunately neither of my machines (Bernina 1260 or APQS George purchased 10 years ago) have shafts that accommodate ruler feet.

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  11. Hi Sue, your quilting is stunning. Thanks for sharing your techniques.

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  12. wow... i LOVE your quilting, it's so beautiful! This quilt is stunning!

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I would love to hear from you, comments and questions welcome!