After many tutorials, I’m trying to hand quilt my Jellyfish Hexie Quilt. It’s been quite a process of decision-making to figure out my plan of action. In the picture above you can see some of my quilting… and I have to be honest, it’s not as good as I would like it to be. My stitches are a little too far apart. Here is a close up:
I’m using a silk thread that was given to my by my friend Rachel who has been using it for her awesome appliquéd quilts. I love using it, it doesn’t fray or knot up at all… and it’s fairly invisible. My problem comes in when “rocking” my needle. I just can’t take small stitches! I figure it must be all the seam allowances making it difficult. Anyhoo… I’m going for it regardless! Sometimes you just need to do things, even if it’s not perfect.
I am thrilled with how my French Knots are turning out – I’m using them as “bubbles” in the water and will probably be adding more once I finish the quilting. I WAS going to only use French Knots to quilt this, but I thought it might look too messy, so I changed the plan.
I’m still working on ideas on how to quilt the actual Jellyfish… I think an idea will present itself when I’m ready to work on that part. For now, I’m just stitching away – I’m about 1/3 of the way through the “water” with quilting as is, although I may go back over all my stitches and add more. I just thought I’d share something to show how much of a learning curve I go though with each quilt I make.
While I was hoping to have this quilt finished by the end of this year, I’m still happy to be where I’m at. Happy New Year everyone!
It's looking great Gail – those silk stitches do appear invisible yet are doing their job. Slow and steady….
Thanks Karen, it's starting to feel quilted… it's pretty amazing!
You're correct in thinking that it is difficult to quilt through all those seam allowances. EPP quilts are hard to quilt for this reason, especially when you you small pieces. However, I do like to hand quilt after all that hand piecing, and it will have a lovely texture.