This quilt is only 36.5" x 40.75" and I cannot imagine ever making a bed quilt with 2 inch 1/2 square triangles! I'd be in a white jacket without sleeves long before it was done! Even though making them with "Thangles" was easy, I'd rather applique a zillion pieces than sew these little squares together.
Strangely enough, doing the intricate quilting was fun! I was terrified to start, had no idea what it needed, but made it up as I went along. This was on my Handiquilter Avante. It took about 5-6 hours to do the quilting... but not all at once. Lots of thinking in between. Since this was my first attempt to use rulers with micro-quilting, I should get faster with more practice?? I hope so!
I didn't have a ruler for the trio shapes along the bottom in the photo, so my hubby cut one from a piece of plexiglass. It was not easy, so he won't be going into the ruler business any time soon! But he is asking me what shape to make next!
This top (from Wanda) is being quilted day-by-day using Glide thread that I purchased locally (from the Man-Quilter, Matt Sparrow). This thread is lovely to work with... no tension problems and no breakage. I've just started the corners using a different background stipple to go around the floral motifs.
If you double-click, you can see this better. The darker squares are about 5" x 5" so gives an idea of the scale. While this is taking lots of time, I like the way it looks!
Some time ago I purchased a quilt top from Wanda. She is such a nice lady and I just had to have something she created!
Anyway, it became time to sandwich and quilt it. I'd taken a class from Claudia Pfeil and saw her quilts live and up close. Wow. I might never do one as large as some of hers, but micro quilting is calling, at least on a smaller scale. I decided it would be perfect for this top.
After selecting a design, marking it became a puzzle. Light markers show on the dark fabric and dark markers shows on the light fabric, but that made my head ache. I decided to try Press 'n Seal... again.
When it first came out, quilters were all excited, but we discovered that the marks from whatever pen was used often transferred to the quilt top as the sewing machine needle punctured this sticky stuff. Also, it was a pain to remove and it gummed up the needle.
For me, it was not available in Canada at first, so one of my daughter's friends went to the USA and brought me about 8 rolls! I tried it as above, and then left the boxes in a cupboard.
However, this seemed my only solution to marking an intricate pattern on a quilt with contrasting values. So out it came, and lo and behold, sitting in the cupboard for a few years lessened the glue factor so no build up on my sewing machine needle!
Also, I'd learned before that the permanent marker will not transfer if left to dry for a few days before sewing. So I did that and am putting the main design on the top. I also found out that sitting in the cupboard made this sticky product easier to remove!
This photo shows the product on a corner, with the stitching done. If you double-click, you might be able to see the stitching in the lighter center. Lots more to do, but the main areas are ready.
As for the name of this quilt, the floral design on those blocks reminds me of tossing a flower in the water and watching the ripples. This is already fun, and I'm not tossing out all those boxes of Press 'n Seal!
