The binding is attached, but not hand-sewn. As far as I’m concerned, that means it is at a stage worthy of being shared:
I started this quilt in………maybe 2001? I’m not really sure. I think it was when we lived in our first house in here in town, which we only lived in for about 9 months.
I bought it as a kit — the pattern is Rosewood Cottage by Nancy Odom.
I got bored. The quilt is supposed to be much bigger, with appliquéd borders covered with vines and houses and other cute stuff. Actually, I think the problem was more that I had used a few different kinds of fusible web, one of which was really hard to needle. I fused all of the pieces, and then did a blanket stitch by hand. After I got this much done, I decided it was big enough and I sewed on some borders and then started to quilt it.
I had trouble deciding what to quilt. I tried a couple of different things, all of which got unsewn.
I pulled it out a few weeks ago and decided to do a feathered meander over it. I used So Fine poly thread from Superior Threads , which is a fairly fine thread. I think it’s a putty color, but it is slightly translucent, so it doesn’t look very obvious on the quilt.
I know, I know: I quilted over top of all of those different blocks and all of that appliqué with absolutely no regard. I don’t care. I love the way it turns out. Because the quilt is so low contrast, and because the thread doesn’t really show up, I don’t think the overall quilting interferes with the piecing or the appliqué. And I’m pretty sure that this way of quilting it was a heck of lot faster than trying to do a custom job that outlined everything and did something special to every block. Of course, I do believe that there is a time and place for that sort of thing, but I don’t particularly like doing it.
I finished the quilting last night and got the binding attached to the front. I suppose I should stop babbling about it and just show you the pictures:
Thanks for coming to visit me at my new blog location. I know I’m a little crazy, but I like trying new technology. I’m impressed with what I see here at WordPress and hopefully I’ll stay put. For now.
TTFN-
Suzanne
welcome to the neighborhood!
I’m fascinated to see what you’ve done with this. This quilt is one of my UFO’s. I have the entire thing done except for the bottom border – the one with the fence. I, too, fused it with several different web products. The one I love the best is unfortunately no longer made – Aileen’s Fusible Web. Some of them I did before I learned the “donut”method so they are much stiffer than the others. I hand buttonholed the whole thing also. I still love it and hope to finish it sometime this year. I’m fascinated to see how you’ve quilted it, because to tell you the honest truth I’ve been dreading trying to custom quilt the whole thing. But I have your first book – and am eagerly awaiting the second. Maybe I’ll try something from your book similar to what you’ve done. That much freehand is scary to this longarm newbie, but your book makes it look very simple.
Nice look to the new blog! I’m bummed I won’t be able to read it at work – they block photo sites, like Flickr. Of course, I should be WORKING there anyway! I’d be interested to know what prompted you to switch. I can’t imagine going through the hassle but I’m not as into technology as you are! The quilt is very pretty – and “done” is always really, really good! What’s its destiny?
I like your quilting …. it’s lovely and the quilt also!