Last night I made the last stitches needed to sew the binding on my latest quilt. It is standard size and it took me around two years to make it. It has pieces of cloth in it which were given to me by my daughter Bonnie and her cousin Charlotte plus material of my own.
I have learned that when you hand quilt the whole piece will not end up quite as big as you had planned, or measured for. It shrinks a bit but not noticeably. That is why one always starts doing the hand quilting in the center and work outward.
This pattern is one I "copied" from my daughter. She had the idea and made a smaller lap quilt. I copied her technique and this is how I proceeded. By using some mathematical calculating I decided how many squares I needed for 4 inch squares plus the one inch border strip to cover a standard bed. Then I cut them from fabrics that I liked. With the squares in hand and the one inch strips all cut I began to assemble the quilt.
The first step was to sew short one inch strips on one side of all of the four inch square blocks. This takes a while but it makes the rest of the sewing go faster.
To assemble the squares for the on point arrangement, I started up in the left upper corner with one block. Since it had the side strips sewn on I simply placed it at the left upper corner. For the next row I sewed two blocks together . Then I sewed a strip of the one inch fabric at the top of these two. Next I sewed the first single block onto the top of it. As the rows took their place they are appearing to be slanting rows, and they are supposed to. For each succeeding row I increased the blocks by one, laying them on the bed as I worked and always sewing the one inch wide pieces on the side of all of them and the strip along the top of them. When those are sewed onto the ones waiting on the bed each block will have a one inch strip all around it. It took me several weeks to get this all sewed together as I was not working continuously on this quilt.
Once the blocks were all sewed together I began to make my "sandwich" with the backing on the floor, right side down. Then on that I placed the batting, stretching where needed as I went along. Last came the blocks I had sewn all together covering it all. In order to hold everything in place, I used one safety pin for each block and pinned all layers together. I did this all over the entire quilt.
Now the hand quilting began. Using a large wooden hoop I put it in the middle of the quilt and secured the three layers in place while I would be hand sewing "in the ditch". That is in the seam lines. This took longer than any of the other steps. I usually only worked on it in the evenings. I set up camp in the balcony area of my house where the lighting would be best. I had a short table in place to put up my feet if I wanted to do that. The television was nearby so that I could listen as I worked. Sometimes my middle finger of my right hand would become tired or hurting from pushing the thimble on the needle. That is when I got aspercream and applied it to that finger and hand.
It has been a fun thing to do and a good way to use up extra material. I occasionally had some input from visitors as to which blocks would look good together while it was laying on the bed waiting to be sewn together. So, you could call this a group effort. Whether group or individual effort, it will be a warm and fun quilt to sleep under when winter comes calling as it absolutely will do around the end of the year.
I have learned that when you hand quilt the whole piece will not end up quite as big as you had planned, or measured for. It shrinks a bit but not noticeably. That is why one always starts doing the hand quilting in the center and work outward.
This pattern is one I "copied" from my daughter. She had the idea and made a smaller lap quilt. I copied her technique and this is how I proceeded. By using some mathematical calculating I decided how many squares I needed for 4 inch squares plus the one inch border strip to cover a standard bed. Then I cut them from fabrics that I liked. With the squares in hand and the one inch strips all cut I began to assemble the quilt.
The first step was to sew short one inch strips on one side of all of the four inch square blocks. This takes a while but it makes the rest of the sewing go faster.
To assemble the squares for the on point arrangement, I started up in the left upper corner with one block. Since it had the side strips sewn on I simply placed it at the left upper corner. For the next row I sewed two blocks together . Then I sewed a strip of the one inch fabric at the top of these two. Next I sewed the first single block onto the top of it. As the rows took their place they are appearing to be slanting rows, and they are supposed to. For each succeeding row I increased the blocks by one, laying them on the bed as I worked and always sewing the one inch wide pieces on the side of all of them and the strip along the top of them. When those are sewed onto the ones waiting on the bed each block will have a one inch strip all around it. It took me several weeks to get this all sewed together as I was not working continuously on this quilt.
Once the blocks were all sewed together I began to make my "sandwich" with the backing on the floor, right side down. Then on that I placed the batting, stretching where needed as I went along. Last came the blocks I had sewn all together covering it all. In order to hold everything in place, I used one safety pin for each block and pinned all layers together. I did this all over the entire quilt.
Now the hand quilting began. Using a large wooden hoop I put it in the middle of the quilt and secured the three layers in place while I would be hand sewing "in the ditch". That is in the seam lines. This took longer than any of the other steps. I usually only worked on it in the evenings. I set up camp in the balcony area of my house where the lighting would be best. I had a short table in place to put up my feet if I wanted to do that. The television was nearby so that I could listen as I worked. Sometimes my middle finger of my right hand would become tired or hurting from pushing the thimble on the needle. That is when I got aspercream and applied it to that finger and hand.
It has been a fun thing to do and a good way to use up extra material. I occasionally had some input from visitors as to which blocks would look good together while it was laying on the bed waiting to be sewn together. So, you could call this a group effort. Whether group or individual effort, it will be a warm and fun quilt to sleep under when winter comes calling as it absolutely will do around the end of the year.
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