Monday, September 6, 2010

A few cool ones

We've been having a few cool days lately and I have taken advantage of it and have been back to doing some hand quilting.

Often times, when I get to the sandwiching stage, there is no complete plan of the design I want to hand quilt or the design gets changed as I go along. I let my quilt talk to me and tell me what it wants and any markings that were there are ignored. Changing plans after sandwiching becomes hard to deal with.

As you see below, the cross hatch stitching was definitely a go and those lines were marked before this quilt was sandwiched. The areas around the flowers were left unmarked as there was no plan yet for that area.

When the quilt is in my hoop, it is nice and taut; but out of the hoop, it relaxes and and the areas that have been quilted bunches up making any more marking almost impossible or lopsided. In the past I've always put a book or something solid that will fit underneath the hoop and mark in areas on the quilt as I go. It was always a hassle and wobbly. Enter my lovely DH. He cut out a piece of wood that will fit inside my hoop.
It fits nice and snug.

Which then allows me to start marking as much as I want. Once all the marking is done for this area, the board is removed and I'm ready to start hand quilting.

This might sound silly to some of you; but for me it works like a charm.
Have a great day!

18 comments:

paulette said...

WOW!! You should market that board!!! I use a book too..but that board is awesome!! Your quilt is stunning!
Paulette

Mary Lou Casada said...

I love the board idea! I, too, let my quilt "speak" to me! And because I'm a slow quilter, I'm hesitant to mark all over for fear my marks will set in over the months it will take me to get to the outer edges. :-D It is perfect weather for hand quilting, and your flowers are just the inspiration.
Blessings!
Mary Lou

*karendianne. said...

Sounds clever to me!

Mary said...

Actually, it sounds like a wonderful idea. Good Job!!!

Diana said...

I use a book as well, but this is such a great idea!

Yankee Valley Stitcher said...

Great little tool to help with the stitching! Love the quilt too!

Sandra said...

Looks like you've come up with a great idea! Have a supportive husband is a real blessing:)

Annette said...

I think its a super idea. And your little quilt is so pretty.

hetty said...

Great idea! Your quilt is beautiful.

Ali Honey said...

Husbands sure have their uses!
Love the cat photos!

Jennifer said...

That's a good idea! Like you I don;t always decide on a quilting design at first - I like to start off, then see where it takes me.

Karen said...

The quilt is becoming even more beautiful as the quilting progresses. Aren't husbands amazing (sometimes LOL!)

Bren said...

Love the board!!! The quilt is stunning and the echo quilting is perfect!

Teresa said...

A brilliant idea! I am going to show this to my husband and get him to cut me one too.

Great looking quilt and your quilting is inspiring me to get back to hand quilting a little one I am working on now.

Anonymous said...

What a great idea! And your quilt and quilting is lovely!

Janet said...

That's a brilliant solution. You have a very handy Hubby! The quilting is looking gorgeous by the way.

Kandi said...

Very clever idea and nice job on the applique as well. I hope to one day be much better at applique. I love it and the possiblilties are endless!

Caron at Michigan Quilts said...

What a great idea!