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Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Are you a Straight-Liner?

How do you decide on your quilting pattern? Do you default to a certain method? Maybe you are a stippler, or a straight-liner or even a grid-er.

My default is anything I can do on my machine with a walking foot.




I have to admit, I am intimidated by free-motion quilting. I think that will be my new year’s resolution: learn to free motion quilt and don’t be afraid.



I digress. Here is a mini version of “Hexies-in-a-Hurry” and I decided to embrace its small size and try out some more detailed quilting. As you can see, I am using a concentric hexagon echo pattern. At first, I did each hexagon separately, which means burying the starts and stops of your thread. That was a huge pain in my “you know where.”


So I changed tactics. Think of a snail’s shell. Got it? That kind of spiral has one start and one stop, but it still looks like concentric circles. That is how I approached my hexagon quilting and it sure made the process more enjoyable. And that is what quilting is all about, right? Enjoying your time as you create.




Do you have a favorite quilting method? Why?

4 comments:

  1. I LOVE this quilt! I can't even call myself a straight-liner as I haven't machine quilted anything myself for a long time--machine quilting is what intimidates me. Period. So what is your preferred method of starting and stopping the stitching?

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  2. Ahhh...i am planning a blog series of just those kind of tips. Check back tomorrow or the next day. I had my sister take some shots of me in action, but the camera ran out of batteries mid-way. Go figure

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  3. That hexagonal quilting looks awesome! I haven't seen that before! I finally feel more comfortable doing free motion so I'm into that right now - it really just does take practice, but it can be a lot faster! :)

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  4. I'm currently quilting concentric squares and I have to say - while I love the effect, it is a pain in the behind as you have to continue turning your quilt around and around - and when it's fairly big to begin with, it's difficult to stuff all that fabric through your machine....mama mia:)
    If you have any tips, I'd appreciate it!!

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