Hand Quilting with Perle Cottons

Remember this quilt top and tutorial? It was inspired by a Garima Dhawan print and made with her permission.

Last month I decided to quilt it up in order to submit it to AQS’s Modern Challenge. I had originally planned on submitting a different quilt, but for some reason, AQS wanted only quilts that were between 40″ and 80″ on each side.  Since I’ve been making an effort to make “bed-sized” quilts, this effectively eliminated most of what I’ve made in the last year!  Bizarre size limits, right?

Anyway, it gave me the kick in the pants I needed in order to quilt this one, so all’s well, that ends well I guess? 

I decided against doing a single all-over pattern.  Instead, I chose one for the “background” and then was going to go back in and quilt the pebble shapes separately. You’ll recognize my typical square stipple.

I ran into trouble deciding how to quilt in the pebbles.  With only a couple of days left before I needed to submit photos to the juried entry, I realized that I could bind the quilt up while I decided.

I tried out a few different quilting motifs on my machine for those pebbles.

I wasn’t happy with any of them; this is partly because I’m a not a quilting ace and partly because what I wanted was to hand-quilt the pebbles and do it in a way that really responded to the fabric.  The problem with hand-quilting? I didn’t have time.  The last day for submitting came, and I still didn’t have quilted pebbles.  So I took the photos with the quilt as it was.

And somehow, it got into the show!  I’d say the dogs put it over the edge, but I cropped them out in my submission photos.  🙂

You can see this quilt as part of the Modern Quilt Challenge at AQS QuiltWeek­® – Des Moines, Iowa 2013 – Iowa Events Center – October 2 – 5, 2013. It’s open to the public, admission to the event is $11.

Anyway, it will be all quilted when you see it! Between the time that I submitted the quilt and the time I sent it off,  I hand-stitched in each of those pebbles.  I took my time and had a lot of fun.  This is not your typical hand-quilting (which is tiny stitches with little needles and tiny thread.)

The type of stich I’m doing here is based off of what Sarah Fielke has been doing  (using embroidery threads to hand-quilt.)  If you’re curious about it, check out this free Craftsy video featuring Sarah Fielke.

You do need some supplies:
Dritz Quilting No-Slip Hoop, 12-Inch
Size 8 Perle Cotton Threads

Clover Metal Open-Sided Thimble,

John James Crewel/Embroidery Needles

Embroidery Scissors

If you like hand-work at all, you’ll probably love it.  And you really can’t get the look from a machine!

If you go to the show in Des Moines, please snap a picture of my quilt for me.  I love seeing them out in the world, living their lives!

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