Around the beginning of the pandemic, I planned to get several of my tops quilted at the shop with the long-arm quilting machine. Since they were closed because of Covid-19, I popped this one onto the frame and began to hand quilt it. I don’t know if I’ve shown this one to you before.
I love pineapple quilts and picked up this book some time ago – Pineapple Stars by Sharon Rexroad. It was published in 2005 and I’m not sure when I bought it, probably at least ten years ago. (I’m also not positive that I know where it is now.) I remember that it has clear instructions and lots of inspiration, although I could have read more about contrast and fabric selection before diving into the creation of mine. 🙂
This is the central medallion of mine:
I squared off the corners and added a border. It’s very bright and I love it.
That floral print is a Kaffe Fassett design called Kimono. By the time I realized I needed big squares of it for the corners, it had been discontinued, so I pieced those blocks. You can see the diagonal line in one big peony this corner where I seamed the two triangles. It’s not an absolute match.
I started to quilt in the center with lime embroidery thread and worked my way out past that lime hexagon. There are still two corner squares that need their quilting finished.
This past week, I bound the outside edge with self-made bias. I was amazed that I managed to find the dark pink from the middle of the star in my stash.
Here’s how it looks now:
It’s interesting how the contrast looks different in the photo than in real life. The green star tips don’t fade out of view as much IRL, probably because the lime is more vibrant than it appears here, more like the octagon in the middle.
As I was taking this picture, my dog decided to lie down in that bit of sunbeam. She didn’t settle in, though, so I didn’t get a pic of her there – even with the quilt, the floor is harder than her bed on the other side of the room, but her opportunism made me laugh.
This is one from the vaults. Last year, I went through all of my unfinished projects and found this quilt top, which I’d forgotten about. It’s a pieced quilt top in the Storm at Sea pattern, which was always one of my favorites. I bought cotton for the backing and folded it up to put it away, maybe 30 years ago.
It’s not a perfectly flat top by any means, so I layered it up to quilt on the machine. I figured it would be good practice. Here’s where I’m at.
Of course, I had to use a stripe with red roses on the border to liven up that blue and white. I just love red. 🙂 I haven’t decided on the binding fabric yet. Looking at it here, maybe it should be navy.
This might be the test quilt that I toss in the washing machine to see what happens.
You can’t really see the quilting in the photo – maybe a bit at the top right – but it’s about half done. I decided to do a wavy pattern on the diagonal that turns back at the centre – so overall there’s a big X and I never have more than half of the quilt under the arm of the sewing machine. I quilted the Escher quilt that way and it was comparatively easy. Big difference there, though, as the top was absolutely flat. (This one has some puckers and tucks.) That was a good size for machine quilting – as a max – so that will be my new benchmark.
Finished Escher quilt
I’m using my vintage Singer 185 for this, because it’s such a rock. My stitches are more even this time – progress is made! – so that’s a good thing. The thread is a Gutermann cotton quilting thread in variegated shades of blue.
I don’t love machine quilting. I don’t love how it looks and it’s hard work – my hands hurt after doing a bit of it – so it’s teaching me to make fewer quilts and certainly to tend to smaller ones.
After this is done, I’ll quilt the mermaid quilt, which is a teensy bit bigger. More diagonal lines turning back at the middle, methinks. I’m debating whether I should quilt the blue dragon myself or not. I’m also wondering with those two whether I could do the borders of the blocks on the machine, then quilt inside the blocks by hand. Hmm. So many details to ponder!
Mermaid in blue jeans quilt
In the beginning blue dragon quilt
I still have a couple of quilts that I’ve started to quilt by hand, which need to be finished up. The pineapple star has corners now and is about half quilted – in lime embroidery thread. 🙂 The ourobouros dragon banner needs more quilting on the black background. The dragon is done.
Pineapple star quilt in progress
Ourobouros quilt in progress
Then there are two big ones to go to the long arm quilting place. Phew. I think I’ll leave that until the fall. I got all the borders on the Moonglow, so it’s ready to go, as is Jumpin’ Jack Flash.
I’m working on a number of projects this week, trying to finish things up, which means I have no completed project to show you. I’ve finished the second orange sock but you’ve seen the first and (surprise) the second is the same. It’s not very newsworthy. I’ve also been knitting on the Halo cardigan while watching movies at night (the back is done). I’ll definitely run out of Koigu KPPPM on that, so need to make a plan. Hmm. (Those links go to previous blog posts here at A&K.)
Sewing-wise, I’ve finished two Schoolhouse Tunics and don’t like either of them, so won’t be showing those off. (That link goes to the designer’s site.) I finished my Purl Soho Cross Back Apron and don’t love that on me either – fortunately, the straps were long enough that I could position them for the mister. He loves to cook and the apron looks great on him, so that’s solved. It’s a good pattern, if you’re looking for one, well described and comes out with a nice finish. (That’s a link to the pattern on the PS site.) I’ve just come to the conclusion that my friend Terri is right: square pieces of fabric don’t look good on round bodies. 🙂 I’m currently in the midst of making some bucket hats. Of course, I need to tweak the patterns – I’ll show you the results soon.
This may be more interesting.
Inspired by a friend’s machine quilting, I’ve decided to learn and finish up some of my quilt tops. I ordered a walking foot for my sewing machine, but in the meantime, I’ve put this quilt back on the frame. I’d started the hand quilting and put it away. Time to finish up.
This is my Pineapple Star quilt, being quilted. I pieced this one a while ago – I know it was before we could shop easily online because I ran out of the big poppy print. I remember that the local shop that carried KF fabrics was out of stock of that one, so I had to piece one of the squares for the corners. Now, I’d just order another meter from someone else.
You’ve probably noticed that I’m quilting with embroidery thread. I like using this thread, even though it’s a bit thicker. I usually choose a contrasting colour – like the lime here – so the stiches show up. I split the thread into two strands of three ply each.
Here’s the quilt in progress, when the central star was completed, so you can see the design. I fussy cut the center of the medallion from that large scale Kaffe Fassett peony print. (The print is actually called Kimono. It’s fabulous, but discontinued.) The only other KF fabrics in the top are the lime green at the points of the stars and the cherry red outside the lime green ring – both are the same print, Roman Glass. The purple is a batik, the dark pink is kettle-dyed, the light pink is a solid (probably Kona, because it’s thick) and the lime green is a fun print with suns. There’s yellow Kona in the central squares in each point, with a leaf fussy-cut from another print in each one.
After this, I added additional triangles of the poppy fabric to the corners to square it up and added outer borders. It has a skinny border of that lime green from the middle and then a slightly wider border of purple batik – not the same batik as in the middle, since I’d run out of that too. (You may have guessed that this quilt wasn’t planned in advance.) I have some of the cherry Roman Glass cut on the bias for the binding.
The inspiration was a book called Pineapple Stars by Sharon Rexroad. Here’s the book at right and here’s an Amazon.ca link. It says at the ‘zon that the book was published in 2005, so I’ll guess that I pieced this top fifteen years ago or so.
Right now, I’ve got the big corner squares left to quilt – they’ll be quick, since I’m just doing them with diagonal lines – then the borders and binding. I’m going to try a technique featured in one of the serger tutorials I’ve been watching – the instructor uses her serger to trim the outer edge of her quilts while sewing one edge of the binding in place at the same time. I’ll handsew the other edge on the back side.
I like this quilt. It’s bright and cheerful, just the kind of thing to work on right now. What do you think?
Alive & Knitting 