Happy Sunday Progress Report :)

December 23, 2013 I started hand quilting this quilt… so just over a month and I am over 30% complete!  How awesome is that for such intricate stitching!  THE MAN quilt is taking all of my quilting knowledge and putting it together… I am loving all that I am learning with this project!

Here is the 8th block I am working on now…

With a close up of the stitching on the lower half of the block… swirly blocks I call them 🙂

 

In real life the pattern shows up well.. but here is the pattern I started with… 

this is just how it ends until I pat off the remaining powder 🙂  See the powder how it disappears as you stitch??? I have had to adapt my way of stitching to touch the fabric less!!!  But now I understand this powder better and I am learning to stitch carefully… 🙂  

So how do I get 30% done if I have 8 blocks done out of 30? lol

Yep, that is 25% with the blocks overall… but I have finished lots of the feathers in the sashings already!  71% complete on those babies!                   

My thought was it would stabilize the curves I needed to quilt into the blocks and so far my idea is working perfect…. I lay out the block to be marked and remove the safety pin basting then.  I pat the whole block all over to equalize the 3 layers and have them lay nice and flat.  Then I mark about half the quilting and jump right in… sometimes I have to re-mark 1/3 way through… sometimes I get that whole half done before marking the rest of the block… 

 The feathers were simply marked prior to sandwiching with graphite… I have a fabric eraser to help remove residue there before washing! lol

My style of handquilting is without a hoop or frame and no thimble either.  I sometimes use electrical tape on sore fingertips but  I do use Udder Cream I found at Walgreens on my fiingertips before bedtime each night… and I awake refreshed and ready for more stitches the next day. 

You see no one told me to ever use a hoop when I started doing handwork as a young child… I have a hoop for quilting now… and I think for the right design I may use it one day… but for now I am working on my stitches and I am loving them and my tension is good… that is the problem many run into not using a hoop is poor tension… too loose or too tight can ruin a project… except for the love you stitched in 🙂

While I have been slow stitching my honey sold a chihuahua dog bowl that looked like this…

The recipient who commissioned it said it looked just like hers… she is painting it gray herself 🙂  And she chose a navy blue bowl for her little boy 🙂

Linking to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday here

Have a blessed Sunday…

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