Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Little Helpers and Pebbles


J watching the needle move. She, of course, asked to go
faster. . .so we did!!!
The neck/back issue is improving. Ugh. . .it has been painful. I haven't slept well. I've used my ice bag LOADS! BUT, the pain is a bit less and so I'm forging ahead with the chicken quilting. I asked for help and of course, the grands complied! It has been way too long for me since they wanted to do any stitching. So when J asked to sew, I was ecstatic!

My goal is to quilt a couple of hours in a day. Some days, I can do an extra hour and some days, I only last about half an hour! Ahh. . .the trials and tribulations of an injured body rebelling!!


K focused on the needle to ensure we were making
"round" pebbles!
When it was K's turn to stitch, she asked questions about how the thread "tied." Good question for a five year old! My answer seemed to satisfy her curiosity! As we formed pebble after pebble, she said, "This is a lot of pebbles! You are getting good at making them!" Ahh, her comment made me smile! I asked her if she wanted to go faster and she said, she liked the speed we were going!

From the photo, you can see that my reorganization is in process. I've sorted some like items and have been taking a little time to sort a pile or at least reduce the height of it!

Threads used to quilt one chicken
Before I tackled the HH Hall Building project, I wrote about choosing a thread that was the same value of the spot I wanted to quilt if I didn't have the exact color of the thread. In the photo, you can see that the spots that I'm quilting are gray; however, I didn't have the "right" shade of gray to blend so, I used a thread that was comparable in value. I now know that I can get away with quilting a blue, green and a cream thread on a gray fabric with positive results!

Adding feather texture following the
print in the fabric
I also wanted to share just how much texture the quilting does provide on those chicken bodies. In the photo above I've just quilted one part of the texture. It amazed me at how much definition a few stitches gave to that part of the bird!
Almost finished chicken
I did use the ruler to quilt the straight lines and I did use a blue water soluble pen to mark the curve lines for the breast. I like how the metallic silver thread on the feet gave this chicken a little "bling!"

Metallic thread outlines the metallic line that was printed in the fabric
Speaking of metallic thread, I used some gold and stitched around the fabric print to quilt part of this chicken.
Sixth chicken quilted
I like the overall result! At this point, I have two more backgrounds to quilt and about one and a half chickens to quilt. Then it will be on to quilting the border, adding seeds to the grapes, finishing any flowers, leaves, vines that I hadn't quilted. So. . .I'm still not finished; but, I am making progress!!!

4 comments:

Janice Smith said...

Terry, do you any tips for successfully quilting with metallic thread? I might like to possibly add a bit of sparkle to my princess quilt.

Good tip about using thread of the same value. . .

Anonymous said...

You are going to have to start referring to this quilt as your magnificent quilt and not your chicken quilt, Terry. I see more blue ribbons coming your way . . . .

And, those grands are coming along beautifully. Always fun to see their progress. ~Gail G

TerryKnott.blogspot.com said...

Janice, I use at least a 90 topstitch or metallic needle, stitch slowly, ensure that the thread is coming off the spool correctly, lower the top tension. . .those are the tips off the top of my head. Hmmm. . .I'll think about your question and include my answer in my next chicken update.

TerryKnott.blogspot.com said...

Gail, you are so kind. After being so close to it these past few months, it feels anything BUT magnificent! Grands are gems; they are such a special gift to those of us who are grandparents!