Last weekend I finished my first completely machine made quilt. I've done limited machine piecing before, but I haven't done any machine quilting. For this project, due to the quilt patterns and my beginner status, I decided to go with a basic cross hatch, using my walking foot. Boy, does the right tool for the job make all the difference.
I decided to quilt it using a cream that matched the background fabric. I knew this would show up on the darker parts of the blocks, but I really didn't want to detract from the four patch corner pieces in each block. Also changing thread colour for the quilting would've added a huge amount of time to the quilting process. Below is what the finished quilt looked like with the light quilting on the dark blocks.
However, once I saw it finished, I thought it would be better with the quilting made more invisible on the darker blocks. So, I decided the solution was to "colour in" the quilting on these darker blocks. As luck would have it, I had the exact colours I needed in my stash of scrapbooking pens - Zig Microns in Heritage Blue, Green, Brown and Red!! So after the quilt was completed, I sat and coloured in the quilting on the dark blocks. Below is a close up of what this looks like. I think it really works and because they are pigment pens, it will be waterproof.
3 comments:
Congratulations on your 'first' machine finish. Looks great. I'll bet you're inspired to start something else now. That's the way patchwork works, so addictive.
Great quilt. When I first looked at it, I didn't see that the "solid" corners of the blocks were made of 4 patches. I love it.
Thanks Katie. It's such a simple thing, but I think using the four patches really adds texture to the finished quilt.
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