Machine Quilting En Provence
My UFO goal for December is to finish En Provence which was the Quiltville mystery started in November 2016. I have my Brother 1600 machine set up for machine quilting and other vintage machines set up for piecing projects. That way I can work on the quilting a little bit at a time. I am having some pain in my right shoulder so shorter quilting sessions are a good idea.
I decided to quilt two small circles in the middle of all the blocks. The smallest circle is traced around the base of a spool of Aurifil thread, and the larger circle is the size of a canning jar lid. As I come to each block, I trace the lines with an "air erase" marker and stitch it right away as the lines disappear fairly quickly!
This is how the quilting design is turning out - 2 circles in the centre, and arcing lines around the other block shapes are stitched in blue, green and yellow threads. I like changing thread colours frequently. I put the green thread in and stitched all the green blocks in each of the 9 alternate blocks. Then I put the blue thread in and quilted the 4 blue triangles in the 9 blocks. Yellow thread was last and was stitched in the yellow squares and the white diamond shapes. It's a lot of stopping and starting but that's okay with me. It's looking even better than I had hoped!
Next I will be quilting the light spaces around the pink stars. I procrastinated that decision because the stars extend into the borders and I haven't decided on a border design yet. Feathers? Stippling? Grid?
I am hoping to have the machine quilting finished by Christmas so that I can enjoy hand stitching the binding during quiet family times over the holiday, and maybe even finish the quilt in 2018!
14 comments:
Looking great Kathy and it complement the design nicely.
I think you're the first person I've ever heard say they like changing thread colors often!! I love the look you're getting with this quilting. So obviously it is completely worth it :)
it will be nice to have this mystery quilt finished before you are finished with the next - was this last years quilt? are they the colors that Bonnie had selected?
I'm assuming you don't leave tails and bury all your thread ends. I haven't quilted my En Provence yer, so I may just "borrow" some of your ideas when I get to the quilting stage.
Pat
I like how you are quilting the stars.
It looks great! Allover quilting designs is what I did on the Mysteries mostly. I noticed I used the same design on the last 2.
Your quilting looks great! I quilt on my domestic too, and even though it's slower, there's a lot of freedom in choosing your quilting designs. I'm currently quilting my Winterville quilt and am on my 5th thread color change with one more to go. Brenda, The Quilting Nook
Good luck with your goal of completing the quilting by Christmas. Quilting takes me ages, I find. The quilt is looking great.
Lovely quilting and I love your ingenious templates!
You are doing a great job of quilting, but I am still stuck on the line where you say you love to change thread colors--frequently, even! I do change thread colors as I quilt, but I find it frustrating that I have to keep stopping to do that. I need a bit of your enthusiasm for the process!
The quilting is coming along beautifully! It's nice to be able to enjoy the process and not be rushed.
Your EN Provence blocks are gorgeous as is the entire quilt! I wished I would have discovered her mysteries back then.
The quilting is adding so much to your quilt. Well worth all the starting and stopping. I love chains and feathers in the border, but whatever you decide will be perfect.
this looks awesome!
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