DONE HAND QUILTING

 I finally finished the hand quilting big stitch on the Carpe Diem quilt of improv Hourglass blocks.

I haven't done any hand quilting in decades, at least on anything this big.  

I pinned up a sheet of plastic on the work wall and pinned the quilt up, using lots of pins.  My purpose was to get it squared up and straight.  Then I sprayed it with water to get the blue marking lines to disappear.  It took a lot of spraying, some of the marks were a little stubborn, but they all eventually went away.

However, orange from the Aurifil 50wt thread I used for the basting left orange marks and faint lines here and there on the lightest fabric.  Very disappointing. 

I patted the quilt, while wet, to get the layers  to meld together and it looks a lot better now.  

So here it is:

Before I sprayed with water, notice the orange dots and faint lines between.

After water, marking lines are gone, but orange dots still visible.

MARKING QUILT TOP

 I have hesitantly decided to hand quilt the Hourglass quilt, Carpe Diem.  

So I set about pre-marking the top before I baste it all together.

I'm using my acrylic template set of circles to create a Baptist Fan quilting design using a water-soluble marking pen.

FREE THE LINE

 This morning was another Sketching PlayLab.  I just love them!

Today was about making lines and how they affect us and the composition.

BATTING ENLARGEMENT

In order to quilt my Modern Fans quilt, which is 56" by 56" I had to piece together some batting.  The only bat I had was 60" by 46".  Luckily, I had a big enough scrap.  I sewed a 14" piece onto the short side.  It will just be big enough now.  (I hope).

I used a nice wide zigzag on my new Bernina.  

I got everything loaded up on Eduard (my A-1 longarm) and started a pantograph going.  While that was working, I cut the sashing strips for my City Sampler quilt.

I figured I'd mark pencil lines across the width of the fabric to make it easier to line everything up.   Then cut all of the strips.    It worked out great.

Marking pencil lines to line up the seams across the width.

Then cutting all of the sashing strips.

FIRST PAID QUILT JOB

I've been working on a customer's quilt.  

I pieced the back together out of fabric they provided.

I am supplying the batting.

I was surprised at how challenging this would be.  But, I'm doing my best.

I drew this design onto paper, then perforated it with my threadless sewing machine.  I'm using a pounce to mark the block, but rubbing it over my homemade stencil.