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.