The Embroidered Handwriting Experiment

Thought I'd give you a little update on my embroidered handwriting experiment after taking Laura Hartrich's @laurahartrich on-demand class, Embroidered Handwriting.

My original purpose had been to incorporate words into the backing of my current Bee Sewcial quilt, Ode to Joy. Over the last month, I've grouped my bee mates' block 'names' into rough categories and have been embroidering them with two strands of black embroidery floss on white fabric. Remember.... the blocks, and thus the words, signify things that bring them joy.

I have just finished the embroidering, and have started piecing the sections. Working with the quilt top backwards on the design wall to help with placement, I've pinned my embroidered word collections in the general area of those block groupings.

I'm now in the process of making neutral-colored blocks incorporating those embroidered words, and pinning them back up on the wall.

I'm planning to make all the blocks containing the words in a mix of white and off-white solids, along with just a few very low-volume prints. Once I make all the blocks, I'll tweak things to fit them all together into a backing the necessary size. I'm still mulling over how I'll keep everything lined up once it comes time to baste the quilt, but I've got a few ideas. I'm looking forward to getting to that point!

Diamond Flare Finish

Whew! It's always such a relief to have a year-long project done! Begun back in March of last year, another segment or two was made each month, until I had a finished quilt top by year's end 2023. The pattern, Diamond Flare, is by guild member Taylor Krz @toadandsew.

For a quilt back, I used pretty much every little left-over from my Diamond Flare quilt top. The green fabric on the right side and top corner was pulled from stash to bring it to size. But otherwise, those bits and lengths were all from the stack of fabric I started the year with.

I had originally intended to make the quilt back along with the MQG Quilt Back Challenge starting with gathering supplies - the inspiration print + leftover solids. As a reminder, below is a shot of my initial inspiration fabric for the quilt's palette, Annabel Wrigley's @littlepincushionstudio Color Wheel Confetti Green for Windham Fabrics. Though I got it back out to consider piecing into the quilt back, I decided to save it for another project. But I think I kept pretty true to the palette, no?

As for my approach plan back during the challenge - using off-cuts from the quilt front, with the combination of simple geometric elements and overall piecing the back improvisationally, I stuck with that too.

I had run out of my big roll of Warm & White batting, and was thinking of trying something different. First I was thinking Quilter's Dream Green, but it was difficult to find in the amount I needed, so I decided to go with Quilter's Dream Select, which I'd used and liked before. I'm not sure what happened, but I somehow mis-ordered and ended up with Quilter's Dream Request, which I love for hand-quilting, but that wasn't my plan here. I decided to try it anyway, lightweight as it was, and it quilted like a dream. 

It was hard to pick a thread color from my stash that went with the wide range of colors and values in the quilt, but finally chose Aurifil 50wt 2612 [Arctic Sky]. I marked a diagonal 3" grid with my hera marker, one quarter of the quilt at a time, and that worked wonderfully. 

Bound with more of the Kona Blueprint used in both sides of the quilt, it finished at 71" square.

Whew! This one feels big, and with the batting and quilting choices, it is super cuddly and cozy. I think that is the last of the quilt projects begun last year. I sure hope so! I'm ready to do something impromptu and much smaller. Curious what that may be!