Quarantine Quilting Week 7: Stippling, Knots and Hikes
This week I concluded, there is hope that I can finish this quilt in time to be able to submit to the Houston show. Hope, not a slam dunk, hope. I micro-stippled for days-on-end this week. And buried another 1.5 million knots.
And just to switch tedious tasks, I finished embellishing 20 feet of rick-rack:
That right there is 750 faux French Knots by machine. It took oodles of hours to figure out the right formula to make this happen. Pounding 12 wt cotton thread through polyester rick-rack, deliberately piling up the thread was fraught with peril.
The final formula, after much experimentation and failure:
12 wt Aurifil Cotton on top
Quilters Select Perfect Cotton Plus (60 wt cotton with poly core) in the bobbin
Superior Topstitch Titanium Coated needle, size 100/14
5.5mm stitch plate (even though I have a 9mm machine)
Plain ‘ole #1 5.5mm BERNINA foot
Top tension at 2
Stitch width at 5.0mm
I chose to use the 12 wt thread because I wanted the knots to be beefy, a statement. The reason I needed the knots: the rick-rack is a bit too blue and the knots cause the eye to blend the colors in the direction I wanted. Because there are only two colors in this quilt, the blue-ish purple looked out of place next to the faded vintage tablecloth. It took forever to figure out the list of requirements to make those knots work. Otherwise, there was a huge mess of top thread on the bobbin side.
The rick-rack will probably be the very last thing to be added to this quilt. There is no way to sew it on due to the profound lumps of the faux French Knots, so I will glue it on once everything has been quilted.
I auditioned quite a few designs for the oddly shaped white blank sections and settled on off-kilter daisies with micro-stippling in-between:
I’m very happy with that design.
So I turned my attention to the border and auditioned some ideas:
You can see that the clamshells in the white part were a bust. I LOVE that grid work I have sketched for the border! But, the central part of the quilt is very densely quilted. Having a loose grid like that in the border is a formula for a wavy edge. It may need something more dense. I’ve got some ideas that I will work up this week. I do need something linear out there somehow.
It was an odd Mother’s Day. My son sent a lovely Peony bouquet and this was the most perfect peony I think I have ever seen:
Awwww!
I did take some time away from the machine and took a hike to Beale Falls, right next to Beale Air Force Base. We got it in our heads that we could cut right through the AFB, saving quite a bit of time. Not! Of course you can’t just cut across an AFB in the middle of a pandemic, duh!
We stopped on the way in to show ID and they had us pull over while they ran a full background check (15 minutes!) before turning us around. We surmised that they probably had to completely disinfect everything after we left, making us feel pretty foolish about trying to take a short cut.
It was beautiful, a mix of shade and open fields:
That led to a lovely waterfall area:
Visitors were politely social-distanced. We met this little guy close up, figured frogs did not need to social distance:
He totally looked like a leaf! And the day ended with a lovely sunset, as nice of a Mother’s Day as could be expected.
Maybe next week I will be close to finishing this quilt. Oh that would be so nice! I have done nothing but make masks and quilt since the lockdown began. It really has been nice to have this block of time to quilt, despite the circumstances. I needed down-time. The few remaining events that remained in June are slowly dropping off. Both Long Beach in July and Houston in October are a go as of this date.
I’ll link up with Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday. I always enjoy perusing the links.
Wow! What wonderful work. I can’t imagine how you finish the ends of the rick-rack nor what glue you use. Lovely work on that by the way.
I’m LOL – I can’t imagine how I will finish the ends of my rick-rack either! I will figure it out as I go. Thank you for the kind words Betty Jo!
Still loving your quilt. Fascinating how you modified the rickrack to change what the eye sees. Those little wheels in my brain are turning. So many thoughts for using color in my quilting. As always, thank you.
Oh I just figured that one out, not like I knew anything, giggle! So glad you enjoy my posts Donna.
That is a lot of work you have done on that quilt and it is beautiful. Sounds like a wonderful way to spend mother’s day.
It was as good of a Mother’s Day as one can have in a pandemic. Thank you Shasta!
What caught my eye is how create a sample to test quilting ideas that goes beyond motif and actually is sized and shaped to match the section it is being auditioned for. Brilliant, Jenny.
Oh how funny Gwyned! I think many have the eye to just look at it and say oh, that’s too linear or, the thread color needs to change. I have to MAKE the mock-up to see it. I’ll take the compliment, thank you!
Jenny, Beautiful Mother’s Day photos and great detailed info as always. Your blog is one of the best. Must try the machine knots-you have taught me much from your postings. May your lovely amazing quilt make it to Houston.
Oh I hope it does jury in…if I finish in time! Thank you for your encouraging words, I need them.
Beautiful, but then again your work is always beautiful. Thank you for sharing. Hopefully we will be able to have you here in Fort Bragg come October. I would love to learn this technique. Stay healthy and safe.
Oh Carole I do hope I can visit Fort Bragg this fall! I miss people! Thank you for your comments and for reading.
I love love this quilt. I would have never thought of quilting a tablecloth. Every time I look at your work I discover there is so much that I don’t know about quilting. You are an inspiration.
Thank you Dixie! A table cloth really is a “whole cloth” when you think about it. I am having a blast quilting this thing.
Your guilt is gorgeous! All the work you have done makes it even more so. You are such an inspiration to others. I really enjoy everything you do and look forward to your next idea.
Thanks Jenny for all you do for the quilting world.
You are so welcome Cheryl! I too am inspired by my readers and your comments. Thank you!
I found fascinating that you would stitch the heavy red “French knots” onto the purple rickrack in order to make the eye think the rickrack was the color you wanted it to be. Very tricky. Almost a “it’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature” moment. But kudos to you for this clever move! I need to go back and read the origin of this tablecloth. You are putting amazing work into it.
It’s always an accident when I’m clever, giggle. Really, that rick-rack with its 2020 color did NOT work against the faded 50’s colors. But I wanted that rick-rack on there so I just experimented and it worked. Thank you for reading Martha!
Lovely embellished rick rack! Looks pretty
Thank you! I love rick-rack, it reminds me of my childhood and it adds whimsy to this quilt.
I’ve been doing some tedious work lately too, but compared to yours mine has been put in perspective, and now seems less odious! The work is looking wonderful and I’m sure, fab when done.
Oh, that tedious part of the process. I just try to remember that every quilt has it and I tell myself to put on something good and just chill. I don’t chill well!