Simple Quilting

This month our Yahoo group is working on making the little four-patch quilt from my book The Civil War Sewing Circle. Yes, we are still doing this. . . . Even if you are not part of the group, you are always welcome to join in on the fun.

Anyway, I promised I would show how I quilted the quilt using nothing more than a small bowl and washable fabric marker to mark the quilt. This is the design that resembles an orange peel (or pumpkin seed).

Instead of using an Orange Peel template or making my own from template plastic, here's what I did:

I marked the center of the block and then traced around a small bowl with a water soluble marking pen to make an arc on one side. Then I turned the quilt and used the bowl again to trace intersecting half circles around the rest of the block. Better than a template because you can do it easily with any size block, large or small - just find the right sized bowl with a nice arc. Here's a sample square I marked on paper to represent a 4-inch block:

Mark an arc along each side of the block.

The arcs intersect and you'll get this design if you mark each side of the block.

Mark each block you wish to quilt. Then just quilt on the lines and when you're finished, either wash the quilt gently or wipe with a damp cloth to remove all traces of the marking pen. It was easy to do this on a small quilt and it turned out very nice, I think. I'm not sure I'd try it on a larger quilt unless I had a lot of time.  I especially like the way it looks on the plain blocks where the stitches stand out a little more.

My favorite quilting thread is YLI quilting thread. I hardly ever use white thread - I'm very partial to the light brown as it gives a nice warm look when stitched on either light or dark fabrics. I've used the blue and red thread as well. 

If this orange peel design is not your cup of tea, then I recommend you try a small stencil from The Stencil Company. They have more designs to choose from than you can believe. I have a few 3" and 4" block stencils since that's the size I often make my small blocks. I use the 2" or 2.5 inch border stencils because I like to use rather skinny borders. 

I often get stumped by how to quilt the borders of my quilts.  Quilting with stencil designs is fun and if you're making small quilts it's a pretty simple way to finish them. Maybe this will help motivate some of you to finish up the quilting on your quilts as well. I have a nice variety of stencils and use them when I get tired of straight-line stitching (which is pretty mindless but still fun).

If you haven't been bitten by the hand quilting bug yet, you should try it.  I use very simple quilting designs and it usually takes a couple of evenings or a week at most to finish a small quilt. I can be VERY relaxing. I'm not very good at machine quilting. If I machine quilted one and ruined it, uh oh, I wouldn't have the time or inclination to fix it or make another one. If the hand quilting stitches are less than perfect or a little quirky, oh well. Antique doll quilts were not perfect either. 

I will win no prizes for the hand quilting on my doll quilts - my stitches could be a little smaller and straighter. But it sure is fun and I love the look of a little quilt that's hand quilted. If you haven't taken the time to do any hand quilting, try it out on a little doll quilt - it doesn't even have to be heavily quilted. Just try quilting straight lines or Xs in the blocks at first to get yourself going. You will improve with each stitch if you keep at it. I promise.