Category: Low Country Living

Yes, she’s done, and I’m very pleased with how this beautiful, cheerful, and BIG quilt came out. She is right at 90 inches square. The binding went faster than I thought it might. So that’s a finish to a big part of work started in the summer.

Here she is, folded over the back of the couch, before I washed her.

The back is a soft grey, and I just went out to the edge of the blocks and used the same Kona solid lavender (Thistle) to bind that I used for the sashing. 

Some of you may recall that I sewed my finger the first time around with putting this quilt on the longarm–with a wide backing that would not lay true and that lost 20+ inches on the straight of grain when torn. The backing here is the replacement backing from Missouri Star, and it was true and is quite nice. I quilted with a medium grey, and that worked well too.

It’s a very good thing that I put color catcher clothes into the washer.

Oh my! But the quilt colors are just fine, so these cloths did their work well.

Reds, you know…are tricky when washed. And I usually prewash fabrics, but this collection might not all have been pre-washed. I’ve had them for a long time–about 18 or so years.

“Red Positivity” is going to be sent to a niece in Virginia–whose birthday is January 3rd. I’ll mail her after Christmas Day–next week some time.

My best to all of you for a very Merry Christmas, and the happiest of New Year’s 2024.

Three months, three studies of more than one block.

We’ll see what happens next. At the very least I have a table runner, a wall hanging, and something like a big pillow.

It’s all fun!

I’ve been having fun with the 3rd block in my online class with Tara Faughnan, where we get a block a month with which to play. “Lines” might seem simple, but it offers so much room to experiment with color relationships, straight lines vs. curved or offset lines, and proportions. I made these to finish at 8 inches, like the Serpentine blocks and checkerboard squares–just to have some consistency.

Here’s my design wall now, with the recent “Lines” blocks on the lower left.

I am still wondering if I can make an improv quilt with these blocks, but I need to see more of the blocks to come to decide on a bigger quilt. Remember that I already made a lap size quilt with the curved Serpentine block and its checkerboard pieces. It is so cute, and it waiting for me to baste it on the longarm. My favorite Serpentine block though is the scrappy ones shown here.

Here’s where I am with “Lines” right now.

But look what happens when I turn sone of these “Lines” blocks on their sides.

Instant landscapes and possibly a big 9-patch block? I could join up these blocks without sashing. So now I”ll make at least 3 more blocks to fill out what could be a chunk in an improv quilt. You can kind of see how that could go in this picture.

For me, creative “play” like this project above is totally energizing and engaging. I don’t worry about where it will all go, if anywhere. I can always make an array of other items if I need to: bags, placemats, small wall hangings that are hand-quilted, pillows, or…nothing but putting them in the “parts department” bin for future consideration. Removing the need to “do something” is so, so freeing.

Meanwhile, the 1920-1930’s quilt is growing. These blocks are 10 inches and are meant to use up this fabric from my stash. I did have to buy a few more pieces of fabric to fill out the colors.

Last night I threaded 30 needles in my 3 little holders and started to bind “Red Positivity.”

How fun it will be to have this big, bold happy quilt in my lap in upcoming nights!

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!