Sew Joy: machine quilting

closeup of quilting on spools in quilty barn quilt

We had a couple of hours of Autumn sunshine today. Long enough for me to grab my camera and take a few photos of the quilting on my latest finish, my Quilty Barns and Mini Spools Quilt.

closeup of corner quilting on Quilty Barns quilt

You might be able to see that I quilted through the middle of the spools to make two rows of quilting. For the border I wanted to add some curves but not have to mark them! What can I say, I love the look but if I have to work too hard to get it, I avoid trying.

I am always thinking back to all of the Mennonite quilts I saw when I first started quilting. While I am no where near the level of quilter, I do resort to using simple motifs made from everyday things when I think about quilt designs. I know they would have used curves - probably leaves or wreaths - to fill in the space of the border. My choices are not so ornate (or as brilliantly executed - but I did it!)

The half orange peel like curves are done in white thread, the second round of curves (might I even call them swag-like?) are done in variegated thread.

This photo shows the decorative stitch I used to machine sew the binding on. This stitch is so much easier for me than blanket stitch on my machine because I can leave the bulk of the quilt outside of the harp (that gap in the middle of the machine). I used the funky variegated thread that came with the box of Pat Sloan Aurifil thread that I won awhile ago :) It has orange and purple, white and a little bit of lime green in it. I also used it for the lines I quilted inside the spools!

This should be the last closeup look at my Quilty Barns and Mini Spools quilt for this year! It's hanging happily in my dining room until next month when it will be replaced with my Advent calendar quilt :)

What inspires your quilting designs?

With Joy,

Sarah V