Quilting Makes the Quilt - Amish 'small' Completed

By Lee Cleland

Quilting makes the quilt. I believe this to be true and so does Lee Cleland - she wrote the book on it! ( a great reference for your library if you don't have it)
This is especially true for plain quilts such as classic Amish or whole cloth (where the quilting IS the design) as well as those large plain setting blocks in quilts where the work you put into quilting really pays off.







I finished hand quilting my first little Amish style quilt last weekend. The photo is at a slight angle to show the quilting.
I used motifs commonly seen on Amish vintage quilts; feathered wreath, crosshatch and cables. The red border was narrow so I used a simple wavy line with random pumpkin seeds-all done with navy cotton thread.











I played around with Picasa; altering the colored close-up of the center motif to highlight the quilting stitches.








I've said before that I learn something from each project and on this one I learned a couple of things.

• Maybe I should have waited to get some dark/black batting. The dark solid cottons don't hide any 'fuzz' that works its way through. After a good working over with a lint remover it's going to be fine. 
• Test and re-test your marking tool for each project. I thought I had tested this one before but I didn't do it again on these exact fabrics. It was a bit stubborn when I soaked it. I was afraid it would rub off as I worked  (it's chalk-like) so I used a bit too heavy a hand. I will probably give it one more bath and consider it when I mark my little Amish Bars.

Two previous posts on this project can be seen here:

• Amish Diamond in a Square

• Marking the Amish quilt

It feels good to have it done - but I'm not making much progress on my 70's  Tumbling Blocks!   I did baste the PA Dutch 4 patch for hand quilting, though.  I know I'm among people who understand!