Ingrid Whitcher

The quilting on my “quilting challenge” piece is finished. I almost used an entire spool of thread on it (1500 yards). To get rid of the blue pen marks, I soak my quilt in the bath with cool water and agitate it a bit to make sure the blue is completely out.

Then, I lay it on the floor and measure on the diagonal to make sure the quilt is square. I pin the corners and the sides.

Then, I let it dry. I usually have a ceiling fan and an area fan blowing on it to speed up the process. It is important to let it completely dry before moving it. When it is dry, I will do any trimming necessary to make it “square” before sewing on the binding.

I have been enjoying going to area thrift stores on the weekend. This weekend we found an old Kenmore sewing machine in a wood cabinet for $25! I could not believe it. I was unable to try it out to make sure it worked – and was pleasently surprised that it worked just fine. It was missing a bobbin but the bobbin from my other Kenmore machine fits. I cleaned and polished the wood cabinet and will have the machine serviced.

I also have been making progress on my “quilting challenge” quilt. All that is left is the fill in the outer border section!

I am making steady progress on my challenge quilt. It is slow progress, especially with the pebble fill. My eyes can only take so much of that before they demand to rest. I even have to put my glasses on to do it. I have made it to the outer borders. So far I am happy with the new Pellon cotton batting that I am trying with this project.

My goal with this design is to break up the square piecing while giving it a lacy and traditional feel.

You can see the design the best on the back….

but I have removed some of the markings from the front to help me see when putting in the fill.

We had had several new babies born in our church over the past few month and this last weekend was baby Addalyn’s shower. A few years ago I made a group of 7 kids quilts as a Christmas gift for a family that had taken in several foster children at the holidays. This is baby Addalyn’s family – so she obviously needed to have her own quilt. You can see all of the other quilts here. I LOVE making baby quilts. It lets me play with fabric on a smaller scale and it makes such a wonderful and lasting gift.

I made her quilt with fabric I have had in my stash for at least 8 years. I used the old churn-dash block pattern that my grandmother used to use a lot. I had figured the number of blocks I needed wrong – so I ended up putting them on point and adding some solid squares. I also did not have a pattern – just a drawing – and I ended up making my half-square triangles a little small. My points are all missing – at least I am consistent. (Oh bother!) I quilted it with a large feather that went through each row, at an angle. The backing is pieced with leftovers from the front.

I am so delighted that I was asked to quilt a small quilt as part of a “professional quilters” challenge. (I do not do quilting as my source of income as many of the long-arm quilters do – I take in a few custom quilting projects.) We are going to have a special display at our guild’s next quilt show for all the quilters in our guild that have been paid for our quilting services. It will showcase the work of long arm quilters, domestic machine (my style) and I think some hand quilters.

Each of us received a pre-assembled quilt top, backing, binding and sleeve material so they would all be the same. Each of us will provide the batting and thread of our choice. This is a quilting designers dream!

It took me a few days to come up with my design. I spend a lot of time looking through books that have all different types of designs. One of my favorites is an iron fence design book put out by Dover publishing. I sketch the designs on tracing paper and lay it over the quilt top. When I am happy with the design, I mark the top and make notes on what fill patterns will be used in each section.

I am using a new cotton batting in this project. I had wanted to use wool but the price tag was a little too high. I am using my normal rayon thread by Sulky and a #12 topstitch needle.

So far I am thrilled with the results. I am posting pictures of the back so you can see the detail. The front is pretty messy right now with all of the marking.