Thursday, September 17, 2009

Two quilted

I am taking advantage of not having my two little boys for a few days this week. I brought my sewing machine downstairs to the dining room to quilt two quilts that were ready. I layered the batting and the back over the weekend. I would turn my dining room into my studio if it only had another door. The dining room table gives me lots of room and is very sturdy.




















When I started quilting I knew that I wanted to quilt my quilts myself. I knew that I would not have the time to hand quilt them so I was determined to learn to machine quilt. I machine quilted the first few I did on my old Brother that I ordered off Overstock. It was a fairly good machine but worth about what I paid for it which wasn't much. I would love to do free motion and I have tried it. After seeing Jacquie's quilts at Tallgrass Prairie Studio I realized that I was making it too hard. She does fabulous quilts but often uses straight line quilting and she does not follow the seams. It is so so much easier to do it this way. Well I am never too old to learn. I quilted both of the quilts I did today with just straight lines, not parallel to the seams. What do you think? And there was no bunching up or little pleats on the back. The back looks as good as the front. To me it makes the design of the quilt show up more. Now on to the binding. I may not get to that today.




















I appreciate all of your great suggestions about the houses. I am still toying with the idea of applique. I guess you could say I am scared to try it. I really should. I made this house yesterday and I like this one. This one is 12 1/2" square and it is easier to add details.





















Off to the coast this weekend. I am taking my sewing machine to make some more houses.

7 comments:

Browndirtcottage said...

Wow....I'm impressed with your machine quilting...I'm still a scared-ee cat!!

Julia said...

Your machine quilting is lovely..and i say if there's an easy way, then why not do it that way..
Julia ♥

Barb said...

You sure are taking advantage of your free time. Love the quilt and all the other things you are doing.

Nina Lise@Mrs Moen said...

Good for you starting machine quilting; and it looks lovely! I too have found that NOT trying to follow any lines makes the process so much easier and flaws less visible:-)

Katie B said...

I love the way you quilted this! It doesn't distract from the fabric, but it gives it a little more interest than lines that are parallel to the binding. I've never machine quilted myself, but I'm definitely trying it on my next quilt.

Anonymous said...

The new house block is great. The prints work really well together :)

Cheryl Arkison said...

Great job on the quilting - yay for branching out. And good use of the novelty print on the roof. That may indeed solve your problem.