I put a lot of miles on my sewing machine last week working on many projects since we weren't making hay. This week's posts were written last Saturday and are highlighting what I worked on.
At the Jane Stickle Retreat in April, I pieced 3 crib quilts. I didn't talk about them when I showed what I sewed at the retreat. I decided to wait and display them when they were completed.
When I returned home, I pinned basted them, then set them aside, ready to be quilted whenever I had time. Last week they were quilted, bound and washed.
Three quilts (same pattern) quilted 3 different ways.
My favorite way to quilt crib quilts now is with spiral quilting. I just like the way the spiral compliments the straight edges of the blocks.
The dotted yellow fabric makes this quilt come alive.
For the back of these quilts, I used flannel. I needed to add pieces to the red.
Spiral quilting is easiest if you just line up your foot next to the quilting and just keep on going.
Unfortunately I didn't have enough dotted yellow fabric for the next 2 quilts and substituted the stripped fabric. It didn't look the greatest, but it was what I had on hand. It does look better now since the quilts are quilted.
The 2nd quilt was quilted with straight line quilting. I just did it trying to go straight. The lines are anywhere from 3/4" to 1/4" apart.
And the back of the quilt.
The first two quilts were quilted with my Elna Excellence 720 sewing machine.
The thread I used on all 3 quilts was Gutermann 100% polyester thread. The spool hold 1094 yards of thread. This thread was also used in the bobbin. I find white thread works well with most quilts.
The 3rd quilt was quilted on my Baby Lock Melody machine. I wanted wavy lines on this quilt. My Elna does have a curved line decorative stitch but I can't elongate it like I can on my Melody.
Wavy line quilting.
And the back of the wavy line quilt.
The pattern for these quilts came from the Jan/Feb 2013 issue of Quiltmaker magazine. In all their 2013 issues, they took a block from one of the quilts in that month's issue, and enlarged it to crib quilt size. The name of this pattern is "Go Baby, a big block baby quilt".
What changes would I make? Next time I would add a border to the quilt. Supposedly this quilt is 40" square when finished but after washing, they measured 38" square. I personally feel that is too small but they are what they are. They will join the pile of charity quilts that are accumulating for donation in the fall.
