A few days ago I showed you my very first attempts at big stitch quilting. My success with Tommy gave me the confidence to think, "Perhaps this is how I should finish the rest of the quilt."
After a rummage through my stash, I found some Pearl Cotton #8 threads in just the right colours. That felt like a good sign!
To continue the remembrance theme, I made a simple cardboard template based on the familiar paper poppies we wear on ANZAC Day and Armistice Day. Using the template, I marked poppy shapes around the quilt before stitching around each one in big stitch quilting.
Happy with how they looked, I turned my attention to the appliquéd poppies. Echo quilting around the flowers is subtle and I think it worked well.
Then I reached the leaves...
The leaves were cut with lovely wavy edges, which look beautifully realistic, but they aren't nearly as much fun to quilt around. Trying to keep my stitches neat while following all those little curves is proving to be quite a challenge. They had me wondering if I need to rethink my plan for quilting them. My stitches aren't as even as I'd like them to be, but I keep reminding myself that this is my first ever attempt at big stitch quilting.
Perhaps this quilt isn't quite ready to wave the white flag just yet! Even so, every new section teaches me something, and I'm still convinced that big stitch quilting is the right direction for Lest We Forget. I may just need to be a little flexible as I work out the best way to tackle those troublesome leaves.
One stitch at a time...
7 comments:
It's looking great Lou. Love the vibrancy of that red poppy in your middle photo.
You could quilt vein lines in the leaves rather than echo quilting? Looking good so far. xx
I have machine quilted veins in leaves and left the edges free - it looked good, and would work for your wavy poppy leaves too.
coming along beautifully lou...
How about quilting in black on black (or white on white where it happens) but echo the basic shape at a distance to allow the beautiful leaves to feature?
One stitch at a time, yes indeed. Making an Anzac quilt is on my bucket list, I've got the fabric, so that's a good start, but can't remember where I put it!
Well done Lou
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