“Traverse” is…Done

She’s in the washing machine–with four color catcher cloths–as I write here. There were a lot of loose threads on her. And, yes, I did prewash these Artisan shot cottons, but…I am not taking any chances with anything running given all these brilliant colors.

I spread her out on my bed as I promised many of you pictures. She glows… And she is going to live folded on my bed.

I layered her and started the hand quilting back in June, and I’ve been faithful to spending some time with Traverse every night. I used 12-wt cotton threads (Sulky, Wonderfil, Aurafil) that matched the fabrics as close as I could–and had fun playing with how to quilt around or over or through the patterns. And, I used a size 6 Tulip embroidery needle. I could have used a 7, which would be a bit smaller and thinner, but I was comfortable with the 6.

You may recall that I took designer Tara Faughnan’s online class on hand quilting–and set out to learn a new method. My front stitches have always been good, but not the back ones. I can tell you now that I have improved a lot and most of my back stitches are good now. And I kind of know when to check the back to make sure all is good.

Here are some close-up pics of the quilting:

I used a thinner cotton batting (Dream Cotton Request I think) and a thinner backing fabric (Cotton Couture). The binding is a dark green/teal Kona solid cotton that work really well.

BUT–there is always a BUT. I will never again use a thinner batting as I couldn’t get purchase with my needle to bury my sewing knots in the batting. And with the thicker needle, the batting bearded badly up through both the backing and the front. I even had trouble with it when sewing down the binding.

I recently also used Dream Cotton on the longarm, and I’ll never do that again either–and I already knew better and did it again, so there’s that. Dream Cotton is pure cotton, yes. It does not have any scrim or polyester, as such it just does not hold its shape. And it is a bear to get it to lie flat on the longarm when it has been stretched to lie flat as one moves through the quilt and checks that the quilt layers are all flat as you roll the quilt up.

I LOVE the look of the shot cottons too, but they are hard to manage. Their thicker threads just fray so, so easily. And it is hard to pull a knot through the fabric without starting a run. I eventually found ways to bury my knots in nearby seams, and that worked, but it was a learning curve.

Anyway!!! Traverse is done and is beautiful!