Monday, March 16, 2015

Progress - Mariner's Compass Medallion

Lately I've  been working on a very long term project. I am hand quilting what may very possibly be my last large bed quilt. I am determined to continue even though it got to 88 today in Phoenix and it has wool batting! I work in the early part of the day or in the evening. And of course, I skip some days.

When I finished my 'stint' today I threw it down on the floor to admire it - always fun to see progress - and noticed that the light was perfect for for a few shots that capture the quilting.

I didn't crop this photo so you can get an idea of the size of the project


After quilting 1/4" from seams on the Mariner's Compass I did concentric circles, gradually increasing outward over that whole section, including the Flying Geese. I started with single parallel lines in the blue setting corners but it just didn't seem to be enough - so I doubled them.



The cable shows nicely in this one. You can see I have it placed it over two plain borders.



Here is a section of the back. I wanted you to see how I am quilting the hourglass block border.
 It is the section with triangles next to the toile where the straight lines alternate directions.



Here's the front showing the hourglass blocks.
 I didn't want to just outline along the seams and this, though not very visible, does quilt the area down with a consistency I like. I like to do designs that ignore the piecing.


Simple X's in the checkerboard borders.


I begin to think about my possible quilting designs even as I am piecing the top but I don't mark the entire quilt or really make many decisions until I am ready to quilt. I sketch out ideas, start in the middle and frequently get new ideas as I work. 


I am keeping track of my time on this one, just for fun. I use a small spiral notebook...here's one page


Hours so far: 103

6 comments:

  1. A fabulous quilt Jean and beautiful hand quilting. I can relate to hand quilting in the heat living in the tropics here. Take care.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful quilt, Jean. Nice quilting. Unlike you, when I hand quilt I tend to follow the blocks because I don't like quilting across a bunch of seams (another way of saying I am a wimp).
    This will be a treasure!
    I always intend to keep track of my quilting time when doing a quilt by hand, but I always forget to record it. Curious to know what your total will be when this is completed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a wonderful quilt! You're doing a great job with the quilting.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The medallion is quite nice. Such precise piecing....and many hours spent making it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Fantastic Jean! I love all of your chosen quilting. It is really coming along nicely, close to a finish? Impressive to keep track of time, so many people ask. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Going through emails today, I really took a look at this post. It is so wonderful to see the hand quilting you are doing on this quilt. It is just beautiful.....I miss hand quilting, we see so little of it these days. Thanks for sharing your work.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for adding your comments!