We skipped the usual Valentine's day fuss this year and settled for a quiet meal at home (tried
these two fabulous recipes), and a movie (
300- I am seriously a great wife). In addition to a lovely bouquet of miniature roses, my husband gave me the ultimate gift. This past weekend, he took over childcare duties and allowed me to have several hours to myself, which I used to hole up in my
studio and finish the top to my Liberty quilt.
I absolutely love how it turned out, and the fabric is so luxurious. If this little bun in the oven is a girl, she will be gifted with the most beautiful quilt...if we're in for another boy then I am keeping it for myself! Truth be told, this has been a difficult pregnancy. I am still battling with morning/ all-day sickness, and extreme fatigue. I know my body is begging me to rest, but besides putting my feet up during Vijay's nap time, chasing a toddler doesn't really allow for regularly scheduled breaks. It felt so nice to have a few lazy hours to myself this weekend.
I am hoping for a few more hours in the coming weeks as I attempt to finish the quilt. I am toying with the idea of hand-quilting this one. The sample quilt they had on display at Liberty was hand-quilted and it gave the piece such a soft, heirloom-like quality. Any hand-quilters out there with a few words of encouragement?!
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Hand quilting does have such a special feel! But it is best done with help from friends! I had the romantic idea to hand quilt my daughters baby blanket and it took me over a year to finish. I don't want to discourage you by any means; it is just important to realize the time commitment :) I enjoy your blog and hope you post pics of the finished quilt!
I've been quilting for about two-and-a-half years and hand quilting is the only way I've done it. I just love the feel of the stitching, as well as the process. While it can be time consuming, I think you could do some stitching along the seams and it wouldn't take too long...but I imagine with a toddler, you might not get many moments to work on it at a time.
I think your quilt would be lovely hand stitched in shades of purple perle cotton. The best benefit of stitching in perle cotton is that you can make the stitches a little larger. Herrschners.com has a great selection and they're reasonably priced. I tend to use DMC #5 on most of my projects.
Good luck! I'm sure the finished product will be beautiful! Can't wait to see it!
Lovely Christine! The colors you chose are soothing as well as beautiful.
So sorry to hear you're feeling so sick this time. I know the feeling and am sending some good "non-nauseous" thoughts your way.
I've always wanted to hand stitch a quilt. Seems like it would be very relaxing and nice to stitch by a warm fire in a comfy chair.
Good Luck. Can't wait to see it all done.
I usually handquilt my quilts, and it's not so bad. If it's pinned or basted really well then you can just work on it in your lap a little at a time. I am currently handquilting a king sized quilt, but I'm just doing straight lines across the quilt lengthwise, following the pattern of the top, kind of like your quilt with strips of fabric (which is lovely by the way). I just do a row while I'm sitting with the boys playing in the living room. I figure if I get a row done each day then in a couple of weeks it'll be done! Not so bad! Even if you just work on it for 20 minutes each evening, just one row of stitches at a time, you'll be finished before you know it! Handquilting is relaxing and is so beautiful when it's done. Plus, you get that added bonus of knowing you did it all with your own two hands! Can't wait to see how it turns out, handquilted or not!
Once you've hand quilted you'll never look back!
Ok, I'm way late to this party so you may be already done. I've been quilting for years and only hand quilt (I did one machine quilted and just hated the process). The number one thing I love about hand quilting is that I can take it with me and do it in small bouts. So it would seem to work well with toddler life. fwiw.