Friday 23 March 2012

Unknown solution

Quilting on this stalled a bit this week, for a couple of reasons. The first is I'm having a really hard time deciding how to quilt the borders (I want something which fits with the rest of the quilt and doesn't require marking, and suits relatively narrow strips) Borders always challenge me. The second reason is I was getting frustrated with the machine; I'm using The Bottom Line in the top (as well as in the bobbin) - something I love doing, but it kept shredding, or catching underneath (leaving a mess) or skipping stitches - the latter two when I was going 'backwards'. I tried all sorts of potential solutions without any real effect. Then I walked away and did somethng else, and then decided to have one last go for the night, and it quilted like a dream! I wish I knew why - but I'm hoping it lasts!


Being the same fabric, I treated the setting triangles and the first border as one. I used my largest round platter and a Hera marker to mark the shallow arcs, then filled the rest of the space with feathers - I'm really pleased with how this went.


Now I'm dithering over the remaining borders. I'm considering leaving the narrow burgundy one unquilted (they're already quilted in the ditch) but will reassess once the line and grey ones are done.

2 comments:

Shelley: the Dread Pirate Rodgers said...

Love the quilting that you've shown so far!

My absolute, without-a-dboubt *Favorite* motif to use on narrow sashings is Carla Barrett's Curly-Swirly. It (and variations) can be found at http://featheredfibers.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/sashing-ideas-for-quilting/

Carla is a master quilter and very generous about how she quilts.

M-R Charbonneau said...

Beautiful quilting, Emma! Borders are quite the challenge, aren't they? I know you'll think of something beautiful!