Thursday, August 9, 2012

The Quilting Part of Quilting

Flickr is all abuzz lately about Angela Walter's new book Free-Motion Quilting and with good reason! The book is pretty and more important, practical. 


The quilting part of quilting is my least favorite part. By the time I get to the quilting, I'm usually so over the quilt, that I really don't want to work on it anymore ~ which must count for the 4 quilt tops stacked nicely in my sewing room. And then there's the dilemma of how to quilt it. I need ideas (kind of like when it's 5 o'clock and I have nothing planned for dinner.) Angela's book gives lots of ideas, and shows exactly how to achieve her look.

I've played with a few of her designs. I'm not quite ready to show them off yet. It's all about the practice! In this post on the Sew Mama Sew! blog, Angela shares about her journey as a quilter, and even shows examples of her earlier work. It gives me hope!

Another book on quilting:



This one, by Joanie Zeier Poole, takes a more traditional approach, using templates, stencils and different types of marking tools. I think in my heart, I'm more of a free motion gal, but this is a great book for your library, giving a solid basics for this step of the process. Even some cute projects in the last chapter.

Two new books on quilting. Now to actually do it!

How do you feel about quilting? Love it? Hate it? Are you a machine quilter, hand quilter or cash quilter (you know, send it out to the long arm-er, lol!) Any great tips to share? I want to hear 'em!


7 comments:

Donna~~ said...

I'm with you--quilting is my least favorite thing, and I can never decide how to quilt the quilt, and I'm usually tired of the quilt at that point, so it remains unfinished.

Sara said...

I have seen the Angela Walter's book and wonder if it's worth the money. I am leaning toward yes. I totally agree with you. Also, after I quilt something I am not entirely happy with results and don't think I "WOWED" it enough you know what I mean?! I am interested in seeing your FMQ practice on your blog:)

p.s. love that you called certain quilters "Cash quilters!" lol

Brenna said...

Totally a cash quilter. :) I've done two or three tops myself, but all straight line quilting. I've tried free motion, but I have a old machine with a small throat, so it's a challenge.

Steph Jacobson said...

I don't mind the quilting once I figure out how I'm going to quilt and get the first few rows of stitching going. I'm totally stuck on straight line quilting right now because I like the way it looks and I know what I'm doing! I really need to branch out and try some FMQ.

krisgray said...

Once I get started - basted, design figured out - I kinda like the quilting part, straight and FMQ. I think I would be less likely to procrastinate so much if there were some basting fairies that would come in and layer my tops while I slept!

ritainalaska said...

i've had one quilt sent off to be quilted ... it was to big for me to handle! i do the rest, and am still hesitating to ventue out to really free free motion. but it is the least liked part of quilting for me.

Donna said...

I stick to small projects just because I leery of trying anything big because of the thought of me having to machine quilt it and the cost of sending a quilt out to be quilted is not in my everyday budget.