Thursday, April 30, 2015

Butterfly Kisses



The soft and beautiful appeal of this quilt once basted has made me even more eager to complete it so it can be in everyday use as soon as possible. 


Basting on our large dining/homeschool table is much less of an effort than crawling around on the floor. I began one night after evening meal and completed basting early the next morning.


 As the fabrics and design provide plenty of detail for the eyes already, I had been trying ti think of a subtle quilting technique, preferably by hand. I recently saw a new-to-me quilting technique using little hand stitched crosses demonstrated by Jen Kingwell on a Fat Quarter Shop YouTube clip (at the beginning and in detail around the 7 minute mark on the clip), the perfect effect I was looking for. After testing a variety threads I settled on DMC stranded cotton embroidery thread for the quilting, using two threads, just as I did in my cross stitch days of years ago. The finish is so soft to the hand.

Below are a series of photos to show the main process, however I suggest you check out the YouTube clip mentioned above for more details. You begin and finish your thread length by burying your knotted end in the batting. Each cross only takes one small pinch through all three layers (first step as shown below). When moving between crosses you travel the needle and thread through the batting only, surfacing in the location of your next little random cross.










It is quite a quick and fun technique, with no need for exactness. It feels like I am lightly landing here and there, adding little kisses to the butterflies - which has led to me naming this quilt Butterfly Kisses.


For the backing I have chosen a length of the Sarah Watson's stunning Biology feature print with a narrower strip of Biology Floral Burst in Navy added above and below to cover the size required - here it is draped over my ironing board prior to basting.



Above you can see the quilt back showing the gentle quilted effect of the little pinches of fabric. They blend in nicely with the fabrics chosen.



Now about half way through the quilting, the subtle little crosses in matching off white give just the effect I was hoping for and are a pleasure to stitch. Thank you Jen Kingwell! 


Sharing at WIP Wednesday.

20 comments:

eileeninmd said...

I just love this fabric, pretty butterflies. Enjoy your day!

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

I love this quilt! The colorful pieces on the front look like butterflies flitting about, a wonderful effect. Love your hand quilting and the backing. Someone is going to enjoy this that is for sure.

Have a great day ~ FlowerLady

Karen @ Pieces of Contentment said...

Thank you Lorraine - and I think that ‘someone’ will be me. :) I DO love it.

Susan said...

Interesting technique, it does create a different look. It goes very well with the quilt, and the perfect backing.

Karen @ Pieces of Contentment said...

Thanks Susan, it reminds me a little of how double gauze fabric is stitched together - seems to be working well.

Mary Huey said...

Interesting idea, Karen! Thanks for sharing it - I'm off to view the video clip!

geanina said...

Beautiful work! Complimenti!

Dirk Rosin said...

great work Karen !

Giga said...

I think the hand quilting is a good idea, only manual labor. I like a quilt. It will not be me in May, because I'm going on vacation. See you in June. Regards.

Kirsten said...

Absolutely beautiful - love your little stitches! Hope you can stay dry over the weekend and get more quilting done.

Lynda said...

The cross stitches are a great idea. Love the effect.

Joy said...

I just have to admire your work!

diane b said...

I know nothing about quilting but this one is beautiful and the new technique looks great.

DeborahGun said...

this looks like such a gorgeous way to quilt. I would be worried about how my stitches looked on the back, but yours are so even :)

FilipBlog said...

Nice colors, would be very nice a bed cover.

Greetings,
Filip

Rachaeldaisy said...

Such a beautiful quilt! I love the mix of fabrics. I quilted some of my Dollop of Cream quilt with crosses and thought they were like kisses too, they're great to stitch.

Mary maloney said...

I love your stitching.

Julie said...

So glad you weren't flooded out. Love the look of this quilt, thanks for introducing me to a new quilting technique.

Anonymous said...

This quilt is looking more and more lovely with the little kisses!! Do you always thread baste your quilts?

Karen @ Pieces of Contentment said...

Yes Preeti, I always thread baste. I tried pins once but found them no quicker (for me) to add and more of a problem when it came to the actual quilting.

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