Ingrid Whitcher

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.