This quilt is an ages-old project I began and allowed to "vacation" in the quilt closet with other unfinished projects. It's a pattern from Pat Sloan's book Berry Hill Quilts. I love her folk-art style and find house quilts appealing in general. And what can I say about the pomegranates? So graceful and pleasing. The quilt is machine appliqued using the buttonhole stitch to secure the edges of the pieces. AND I was determined to machine quilt this one myself. That's where I got bogged down.
As you can see, there are many elements and lots of colors used in the design. That meant a lot of thread changes and design motif changes throughout the quilting. Progress slowed to a crawl. But finally Pat Sloan came to our guild for a lecture and to teach a class. I showed her the progress on the quilt, but also noted that I was dissatisfied with my machine quilting and wondered if I'd ever finish. She encouraged me to keep on going, commenting that often we are harder on our work than others might be. So on I went, stitching away doggedly, heading for the finish line.
Then I discovered the Invisi-fil thread (also used here) that is lightweight and that blends so well with many colors. That was just the ticket. I was able to finish the quilt at last! I can't call it my best effort ever, but the quilt makes me happy and it hangs in our dining area. And I've convinced myself that there is a size limit to quilts I plan to quilt on my home machine!
2 comments:
OMGosh. This is incredible. You are so brave and stuck with it so much. Now it is complete and you can give yourself a pat on the back. Of course, finding that invisible thread helped, too.
I bought some sort of like that (don't remember the name or brand) and it was more like fishing line than machine thread. I hand wound some on a bobbin and used it to see if it would be useful, but I hate it. It also broke when I tried to sew with it, but it worked OK in my bobbin. Go figure.
I really like the close up shots, and really like that house. Nice pattern, but even nicer completed quilt!
This is really nice, Nancy!!! Invisi-fil thread is great to use or even a 60 wt thread works at time too. Live on the edge sometime and just use the same thread all over. You'd be surprised how good that can look too!
Again, nice quilt!!!!
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