Arcs

When I last mentioned my Wayward Arcs piece made during Block Studies Collective in January, I was debating whether to add to it, and maybe even take it to QuiltCon to use during my hand-quilting class with Tara Faughnan @tarafaughnan. Well, I did both!

Before I went, I 'basted' it lightly by machine-stitching several vertical lines. Then for the hand-quilting class, I packed both Wonderfil #8 perle cotton and Aurifil 12wt, expecting to try both. But I found out in class that Tara prefers and uses Wonderfil Spagetti 12wt (that is, when she's not using Wonderfil GlaMore 12wt, a metallic thread), and so I tried it.

I was surprised how much I loved it. Tara and I compared the Aurifil and Wonderfil 12wts, and the Aurifil was just a bit 'fluffier?' It's hard to describe, but for hand-quilting, I really liked the Wonderfil also, and purchased some green and off-white to use while quilting my little quilt.

Over the weekend, I finished hand-quilting, and then stitched on a wide (3/4") binding. Just for the record, I'd backed the little (19" x 26") quilt with a printed fabric from stash, and used Quilter's Dream Request, which is especially nice for hand-quilting.

It sure felt great to be hand-quilting again, and I love the finished texture. I know it takes more time, but I'm seriously hoping for more hand-quilting in my future.

Linking up with Favorite Finish {March 2025} with @quiltingJETgirl.

Bow Ties

It is with great relief that I pronounce my bow tie quilt completed. Begun over two years ago as part of the 100 Day Summer Sewalong, it is hand-pieced, hand-quilted and fully hand-bound. Ever since I learned my maternal grandma made bow tie quilts, I knew I needed to try my hand at one too. And since back in the 1940s or so, she most likely stitched hers by hand, so did I.

It was in May 2021 that I prepped bow tie blocks to hand-piece. It's been so long, I had forgotten I had used a tutorial by Wynn Tan of Zakka Art to cut out the blocks. For background, I used Kona Enchanted, the 2020 Kona Color of the Year. And for the bow ties, I used a custom 6" charm pack I'd purchased from Katie Pedersen @sewkatiedid years ago....a mix of wonderfully varied purple prints that played off the Enchanted nicely. That only got me so far though, so I incorporated a Social by Melody Miller charm pack and some scraps to bring me to 100 unique fabrics. There are a few from the Social charm pack that are the same pattern but different colorways, and I think that worked out ok. I began piecing with Aurifil 50wt, but soon switched to Aurifil 28wt, and it worked great. [ETA: looking back, I realized I began piecing with 50wt, then 40wt, finally realizing that 28wt would be a better choice.]

The quilt's backing is made simply from lengths of Kona Enchanted. I just didn't feel like I needed to deal with hand-piecing a complex back for this one. And I switched up from my normal batt, Warm & White, and purchased a throw-size of Quilter's Dream Request batting that I knew would be great for hand-quilting. And for that stitching, I chose Aurifil 12wt 4093 [Jade], which worked beautifully.

Probably the most tedious of all the hand-stitching was sewing the binding onto the front of the quilt. But once that was done, I was able to stitch the binding to the back in just a couple of evenings.

The quilt finished at 54" square, and is soft and cozy. 

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Some project history....

5/18/21 - 100 Day Sewalong Prep

6/30/21 - 100 Day Summer Sewalong :: Day 30

7/20/21 - 100 Day Summer Sewalong :: Day 50

8/20/21 - 100 Day Summer Sewalong :: Day 80

7/25/22 - Aurifil Artisan Challenge :: On the Go

11/14/22 - Bow Tie Progress

6/28/23 - 2023 Summer Sewalong

#aqtbowtiequilt

2023 Summer Sewalong

Started back in 2021 during the #100daysummersewalong, I'm finally circling back to my hand-pieced bow-tie quilt for this year's Summer Sewalong with Jenn @sewfinethreadgloss.

With the 53" square quilt top fully pieced, next up is hand-piecing the quilt back, then basting. I found the perfect Aurifil 12wt 4093 [Jade] for hand-quilting, and I'm really looking forward to that. It's been a while!

If you want to follow along, I'm planning on periodic weekend updates on Instagram, which I'll always tag with #aqtbowtiequilt. Also, to see what others are working on, check out #2023summersewalong. I'm really, really hoping I can make good momentum on this project, as it's been a long time in the works!

Sometimes It Takes A While

This poor little project got neglected more times than I can count, but finally, irrevocably, I'm calling it done. Just 9" x 12", it was begun in September of last year, on a touring bus, somewhere between Paris and Beaune, France. It had seemed such a good idea to take a little handwork on our trip to Europe, and it was. It's just that the project rarely called to me, and in fact, a sense of obligation and a few fond memories are what finally convinced me to finish it at all.

The fabric came from my scrap basket, and also from little sample packs from Brooklyn Haberdashery that I'd picked up at my last two QuiltCons. And I really did like all of it. Every little block was hand-pieced, and by the time I got home, I had a nice handful.

Then it was time to puzzle them together, and that was tricky. Considering they were all hand-pieced, I couldn't just trim anywhere without risking releasing a seamline. But eventually they were all pieced into a rectangle and it was time to quilt.

I stitched-in-the-ditch along some of the major seamlines, and then started in on some boro-style stitching. This is definitely an area where I'm no expert, but my goal was to try and try I did. For the first time, I used Aurifloss, #2311 [Muslin], so that was cool, though for this kind of stitching, I think I'd use two strands next time, rather than three. But it all worked well enough.

The binding was cut skinnier than usual (1 1/2" to finish at 1/4"), and I did machine-stitch it around the quilt before finishing by hand. And with that this little piece is done. Not my favorite, but that's totally ok. There's some travel stitched in, some exploring, and a fondness for those bits of fabric and those wary stitches. I think all that's enough.

The Teeny Tiny Trip

Just shy of two years ago this week, I took a Small Hand Piecing class from Chawne Kimber at QuiltCon in Pasadena. Made completely and utterly by hand, what began with 1 1/2" unfinished squares, is now a 38" square quilt.

Obviously, I took my time, and honestly my love for this project experienced a serious ebb and flow. Due to the nature of the hand-piecing, every single square required hand-drawn stitching lines, which I can't say I loved, but it worked well. Probably my absolute least favorite part of the process was the swirling and pressing on the back side. I would do that every round or maybe two. Any more than that and things got seriously depressing.

When I started, I had in mind this thing would be indefinite and huge! But when the time between rounds turned into months at a time, I decided that wasn't the best idea, and that finished was better than size. I made quick work of the quilt back, piecing some coordinating lengths from stash.

As far as quilting, doing it by hand was the obvious tack. And considering I had plenty of that in my quilting history, it actually felt very good to be doing it again. Can't say I ever got really proficient at it, but I was comfortable with doing it at least. That in itself felt pretty good, though it still took me a few months, even on this small size. For thread, I used what I had on hand - Aurifil 40wt #2024 [White] - and paired with some Sew Fine thread gloss, it worked wonderfully.

SO when I finally was ready to bind, I machine-pieced a length of binding strips without even thinking, just out of habit. Then it dawned on me that there wasn't a machine-stitch in this thing, and questioned why I should start as I was finishing it. The main reason was I had never done that before! Was it even a thing? I couldn't help mention my dilemma to Chawne, and she eventually confessed that yes, she does bindings completely by hand all the time. I considered for a bit, and came up with a few reasons why I decided to do the same, including removing the machine stitches I'd already put in the binding seams:

• Even hubby(!) said, "Well, you've done the rest of it by hand."
• The texture of the little quilt was amazing due to the handwork, and I didn't want to risk jeopardizing that.
• After nearly two years of fits and starts, now I wasn't in a rush for it to be done!

Gotta say, it worked ok and I'm super happy that this one was created by hand, right down to the last stitch. Considering how much I tend to rush through projects, it's nice to know I can occasionally just slow down. The texture, you guys, is indeed a delight. Yeah, I wish it was at least a little larger but oh well. Thinking another hand project might be in order.

This project was on my 2020 Finish-A-Long Q1 List!
Linking up with TGIFF!

The Next {hand-sewing} Adventure

It's been a couple of weeks of very slim sewing here, between a nasty cold, travel, holidays and all, I've sewn and blogged less in November than all year. I'm hoping that's about to change. On Saturday, I had the time and finally, the energy, to refocus, evaluate the projects in the works, and make at least a little progress on several. Some of that was gathering supplies or printing a pattern, but it was also getting started on quilting, which I'll share later this week, and most surprising of all, make a backing and pin-basting my Teeny Tiny Trip Around the World. Do you even remember it?

Below is a view of the finished top, hand-pieced 1" finished squares, measuring 38" square overall. I was able to press out those ripples, and I think I now have a relatively flat quilt sandwich all ready for hand-quilting. It's been a while, so I hope I get into it as much as I currently want to. Time will tell, but for now, it's at least one big step in the right direction.

Hewn

Remember me telling you about Curated Quilts, the new quarterly quilting journal coming out soon? Well one of the features in each issue is a mini quilt challenge. For the second issue, the call for log cabin quilts has been announced. In fact, the deadline is coming soon - October 1!

I can't honestly say that what I'm submitting is quite the result I may have gone after if it hadn't been for the traveling I've done the last several days. Ie. I knew I'd be away from my machine for a while, and the week waiting for me when I returned didn't guarantee much sewing time either. So when I managed to get a quilt top done before I left, I knew the only logical way to proceed was with hand-quilting.

Which is all fine and good. I've had plenty of experience at it back in the day, but lately not so much. And with the use of both Art Gallery denim and Essex linen in the piece, the thickness varied quite alot, and my stitches were kind of wobbly and uneven. You know - a very handmade look. The best part, though, was the thread I used - Aurifil 28wt #2625 (Arctic Ice). It was a first for me, as far as hand-quilting goes, and it stitched oh-so-smooth.

By the way, the backing I'd found in my stash was pretty perfect, I thought. In person, the colors really mesh with those of the required palette. Which reminds me - there was a required palette! What I saw in the photo posted was gray, tan, coral, gold, and pink. I read somewhere that the gray was really 'a soft navy', which is why I chose the denim. At any rate, it was a really captivating palette for me, and very enjoyable to work with.

One other little issue, though, was that I took the opportunity to use a machine I was quite unfamiliar with to sew on the binding. Don't get me wrong - it was a delight having a brief sewing spell in a borrowed (with permission!) sewing room, but it was kind of like sewing in Greek - none of the buttons were familiar, and I wasn't about to switch out the walking foot, thus my seam allowances weren't as precise as normal, and that resulted in a bit of bunching in the finished binding. In an odd sort of way, maybe that just adds to the wonky log cabin and the imperfect quilting, eh?



Whatever, it was a very enjoyable sew and gave me some hand-stitching for the car ride. Finishing at 15" square, it's the smallest quilt I've made in a while, and I confess, that was a bonus. Perfect it's not, but who ever said it all had to be? ....Exactly.

Linking up with Curated Quilts' Call for Entries - Log Cabin Mini Quilt.