Sunday, 1 June 2014

Slow Stitching Sunday: Here's My Sampler and My Week Ahead

    I'll be doing a lot of hand stitching this week.  My machine is at the spa (as Kathy likes to call it ) having a routine check up.  We were having some tension issues at a workshop a few weeks back so I booked her into for her week of rejuvenation.  Before I took her in I managed to complete the top of the wedding gift I've been working on.  I have determined that no one receiving this gift will look at the blog until they receive it so I get to show you a picture.  I know it seems insane to think that my son would be looking at the blog but you never know l.o.l.!
   
     It's a wall hanging to hang above their bed.  Their colour scheme is all browns and blues and I borrowed a pillow sham in order to choose my colours.  It's done with raw edged applique with a zig zag stitch.

     My friend Wilma has loaned me a tubular quilting frame that I would like to use when quilting this.  So I have another question for you.  Does the quilt have to be snapped in on all 4 sides.? If so can I attach extra fabric to the backing to do that?

   

     Two weeks ago I shared a picture of my hand quilting sampler.  Here it is all finished.


     The stitching is fairly inconsistent but I'm happy to say that the best stitches are the latest ones.  So I guess I've picked up something over the years.  You can see where I carried the thread under the surface between the two circles so that is something I would be careful of in a project but I'm not concerned with the sample.  I really enjoyed working on this and I can see how it could become addictive.  Thanks for all your advice two weeks ago and for your inspiration every Sunday. I feel confident that I can do a reasonable job on the wall hanging.

     Before taking the machine to the shop, I also managed to sew the binding on to this quilt.   So I'll be working on hand stitching the binding down as well.  Note my beginner free motion stitches.  I've mostly done straight stitching up till now.  I'm working on improving my free motion quilting and my hand quilting at the same time!


Linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's blog.

10 comments:

Carla A Few Of My Favorite Things said...

Yes you can attach extra fabric so that you have all four sides in the frame. Sometimes I just use safety pins to attach a piece. Having all of them secured in the frame will help you with the tension you need to make your stitches. Your stitches look absolutely lovely and yes it is very addictive to sit and stitch and forget about everything else.

Quilter Kathy said...

Lisa...what a great wallhanging! I sometimes machine baste extra fabric to the sides of the backing to give more room to put the quilt in a frame.
You are doing a great job on your machine AND hand quilting!
Thanks for linking up to Slow Stitching Sunday!

Deanna W said...

Definitely you can add fabric to the backing and to the top to make it easier to keep all layers in the frame. Your hand quilting is beautiful. Always go for consistency even if the stitches are bigger than you want and work towards smaller stitches. I love hand quilting.

Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow said...

what a wonderful gift that wallhanging will be for them...stunning! :)

salamanda said...

Looks like lots of progress and a beautiful gift.

Chantal said...

You are WAY to harsh on yourself. Your stitches are lovely. I too attach some extra fabric to the quilt before setting it in the frame. It makes life easier.

Kathy ... aka Nana said...

I don't think my family reads my blog ...

I love the wallhanging ... I've never thought of doing a DWR as a raw-edge applique. Since I'd like to make DWRs for all my grands (for their wedding days ... hopefully many, many years from now as the oldest is only 12), perhaps I need to check out that method ... so I actually have the possibility of making them all (4) in my lifetime. ;-)

Deb A said...

Beautiful hand stitches on your sampler! Your FMQ looks great to me - we are always are worst critics. Good luck with your stitching.

CathieJ said...

Such a pretty wall-hanging. Great color scheme. I like the hand-quilting on your sampler also. The more I hand-quilt the better I get. Looks like you are doing quite well.

Taryn said...

Love your double wedding rings... the colours go so well together and I'm super impressed with your hand quilting!