Quilt Along #11 ~ Quilting on a line

Quilt Along #11 Quilting on a Line

 This Quilt Along Challenge has been hmmmm, should I say, eye opening about my own skills :)   Now I know why I like free motion quilting, it is so much easier to "free motion quilt" and go where you want and swirl and twirl, than it is to trace a pattern and stitch/quilt on a line! 

My First wall quilt of heart and feathers with a cotton batting.  I traced the pattern on the top of the quilt, using my sliding glass door for a light source, with a chalk pencil.  However, I found the fabric design so busy it was a lot of work to see the pattern.  There was lots of retracing of lines, and  found the same when stitching, and I did not like the build up of threads.

The back looks okay, as the thread build up on the muslin does not show up as much, and no lines to remove.

My second wall quilt of heart and feathers is with a high loft poly batting.  This time I traced the pattern on a muslin backing, as using the busy paisley red fabric again.  The stitches came out so much better this time, as it was so much easier to see ahead of time where I was going.

However, the sunlight was coming through my window so brightly, I could not see my pencil line at all, and when I sandwiched the quilt together, on the white batting, the pencil lines really showed up.  Now to get out the eraser and have at it to get them off.  I have a frixion pen, but here in the cold New England climate, and using the chemicals on the fabric, well, I just rather not use that one if I don't have to.

When I decided to mark the back instead of the front the second time, I did not remember to starch the backing; result, I found the fabric stretched and shifted a lot more and the marks are more difficult to get out than if I had starched it.  Yippee, another lesson learned :)  Starch the side you are marking!

This Quilt Along Challenge has been hmmmm, should I say , eye opening about my own skills :)  Learning a lot and really having a lot of fun.  best part of this quilt group, is you only get to see what I show you :)

I have two more quilt tops to complete for this weeks challenge, will post those successes later.   Will give the blue washout pen a try, and another marking method along with using a low loft poly batt, and maybe a wool batt.  Certainly learning this pattern, and creating a better map for the stitching route each time I repeat a pattern.  I think I will save the wool batt for last :)  

 Remember there are NO Failures in quilting, just a whole lot of lessons learned :O)
Happy quilting.
Godspeed,
mary