That Time When I was Suddenly Quilting

With the back and front of my "bright stars on black" quilt pieced and having a batting I could use, it was possible to move on to basting it together.

With travel and company coming, I didn't think I'd have time to actually quilt it but I figured I could at least get it basted. (It's not the best practice to have a quilt sit around folded after being basted, but I was willing to take a chance.)

I brought everything I needed to baste it together at church a couple weeks ago. I work there once a week, so I went in early and took advantage of the large tables. Three of them side by side is the same size as the quilt top.

Well, I brought everything except the big clips I use to keep the backing in place. (These are the clips I had to go out and buy last time I basted a quilt there. Maybe I should make a list?) I took a chance, and tried to keep the backing smooth without the clips.

It almost worked. I ended up with a fold in the middle (on the back) and had to undo and redo half of the quilt. I didn't take pictures, but hundreds of pins were used. But - importantly - not all of my pins were used. I didn't have to go out and buy more this time!!

The quilt sat in a basket for a while, but one evening I decided to pull it out. (I think the goal was to empty the supplies out of the basket and use it for laundry again, but one thing leads to another...) The only idea I had for quilting this quilt was black lines between the stars. Wavy, undulating lines or something to suggest motion.

But suddenly I was quilting around the stars -- big stitch quilting with coloured embroidery floss.

After outlining the star, I decided to echo the shape inside the star as well.

I made a paper template at the medium size, pinned it to the quilt and stitched around it (right next to the paper). The star shape is easy to make as it's two squares centered on top of each other, with one rotated 45°. Having four seams in the middle of the block makes it really easy to line up and centre the star.

Stitching around the paper was tedious and inaccurate as it kept shifting, so by the time I made the smaller paper template, I realized I could trace around it with chalk and sew on the line without the paper in the way. That is how I proceeded and it is working well. I mark each star as I start to work on it. If I did them all at once, I think the chalk would wear off of the stars by the time I got to them all.

After stitching the second star, I decided it needed something more in the middle, so I repeated the same star shape in the centre. Each leg of the star is only one stitch so it's a solid line instead of the dashed running stitch of the larger stars.

By the next day I had four stars done. Here is a picture of the back:

I love that the stitching lines are square with the lines of the triangles. It's easy to not line up the back and front perfectly when you're layering everything, but I'm happy it worked out! (I'm sure having a table top where I could see everything at once helped!)

The floss colours match the stars so the back will also have an ombre rainbow effect. Or it would if you could see the colours very well. The lines aren't thick enough to be distinguishable against the black in that much detail.

I am also pleased that I found a way to deal with the knots so that the running stitch is continuous on the back and the front. Ways I have done it before always left a gap or an extra long stitch on the back.

By last night, I had seven stars done: the blue one, the green ones, and three yellow ones.

I was thinking that was out of 16 stars total, but when I spread out the whole quilt I realized there are 18 stars in all. So I'm closer to a third done than half. (But it's still going quicker than I would have thought.)

It's a good thing I tolerate being warm (and generally seek it out) because having a wool quilt on your lap on a hot summer day isn't for everyone!! :)

I still don't know how I'm going to quilt between the stars; might be black lines, might echo the star shapes some more. I have some time to think about it. I also am contemplating the border. I may find myself "suddenly" big stitch quilting around those smaller stars too. A quilt wants what a quilt wants. Who am I to deny it?