Quilting Progress

I don't know why I thought an all-over quilting pattern would magically take less thread to quilt than quilting in each area.  I knew how much thread went into Sunshine.  And yet I bought so much less thread for this quilt.  So silly.  I'm taking notes:  it takes lots of thread to quilt a throw quilt.

Of course I ran out of the thread the day before the storm (more on that on Thursday).  I knew it was wild weather when I picked my car up from the shop, but didn't realize how bad it was until after I picked up the thread.  It was a harrowing drive home, with skewed traffic lights, getting detoured from closed streets, downed wires with branches or whole trees across the road.  But one must have thread to quilt!  (Well, except when one loses power.)  May this be a lesson - buy the correct amount the first time!

This video is for curious non-quilting friends and my mother, who wanted to know how I free motion quilted Sunshine on my domestic machine.  First is a close up of the basic swirl and petals of the repeating design I'm doing.  You'll see me point or move my fingers around during this video - I'm doing the design free-hand, and I point to help visualize where I'm going next.  It also helps to ensure I don't quilt myself into a dead-end.  The second bit of the video you can see I stop and start quite a bit:  straightening the quilt, moving my hands so the needle stays between them, and clipping basting thread (because my foot tends to get tangled if I sew over it.  Hmm...I wonder if I'd have better luck basting from the back side so I'd have less exposed thread on the front?

Anyway - Mom's quilt probably had more sewing and less pauses because the pattern was repeated by block or fabric, so there was less thinking involved once I started quilting.  This design covers more area, but because the pattern isn't set, I have to keep considering how it looks and where it's going.

I'm three quarters done with the quilting.  My goal is to work an hour each sitting, before my wrists get tired and I start going cross-eyed (or the bobbin runs out).  One or two more sessions should do it.  It's flat and even and no puckers.  I've got binding ready to go and I've been asking the quilt what it wants to be named.  A few ideas, but nothing has stuck yet.  But I'm close - how exciting!

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