Monday, August 22, 2016

Show + Tell :: Going On A Trip II

August 22 2016,

It's finally done. Ta dah - way ahead of schedule.I just had to put my feet to the pedal.

"Going On A Trip II"

Detail of "Going On A Trip II"

This one is call "Going On A Trip II". Remember the other one "Going On A Trip"? This one is even more dizzier. This quilt again uses Kathleen Loomis "fine line piecing method". I used three fabrics. This line of fabric is from Robert Kaufman Artisan Batik Model Geoscapes 4, and the other two are the Hoffman 1895 batik fabrics.

The quilting is straight line quilting with 50 weight cotton Aurifil thread - quilted 1/2" apart. With so many seams, I had to switch needle twice. The first needle I used was a "quilting needle" size 90/14. The quilt wasn't too happy with it, and it skipped stitches here and there. Then I tried the "Topstitch 90/14" and that seemed to fair better, but it did skip stitches, but much less. I may try the "Topstitch needle 100/16" to see how that fairs.

In the mean time, I am getting ready a quilt that is going to be hand quilted, and then I have a small auction quilt I have to do for my guild, and then a graduation quilt for next June, and then another graduation quilt for our nephew.

I still have another color using the same fabric pattern, Geoscapes 4, I may just whip out another one.

Title: Going On A Trip II
Dimension: 73" x 84"
Materials: Cotton Batik, Dream Cotton Batting
Method: Machine Pieced + Machine Quilted
Date completed: 09.2016
Quilt & Bitch

2 comments:

Kathleen Loomis said...

Hi G -- I'm so happy that you used my fine line piecing method and got such a lovely quilt out of it!

Regarding your skipped stitches on the quilting -- maybe you should go in the other direction and use a smaller needle. That's always the first thing I try, to use the smallest needle possible. (Batiks are hard to sew in any case, because they're so tightly woven.)

It's also possible that your backing fabric is resisting arrest. I had a terrible time with skipped stitches once because I used a backing that had some polyester in it, and also a glazed finish. I had bought it as a special quilters' fabric, 108" wide so I didn't have to piece the backing. Unfortunately I bought quite a bit of it, and will never touch it again.

Quilt+Bitch said...

Hi Kathy, Thanks for your comment. I never thought about going down in size (going smaller). I will certainly try that. I also pieced my back - so that exacerbated the situation further. Batiks are the worse - but I love them too much to compromise. I am planning on making table mats with this method, so I will have lots of practice quilts to play with. Thanks so much again. G