Big Stitching Charm Dance

Charm Dance Quilt Top

I would love to share my big stitch quilting adventure with you!  Earlier this year i received a surprise parcel from my very good friend Kathi from http://designoriginalsbykc.blogspot.com.au with a lovely charm pack by Moda called Happy go Lucky!  I stored this pack away to do something with later and another new friend from the States Bobbie Jo asked about doing a charm quilt for her daughter.  I decided the easiest way to do this was to do one myself so out came those charms from Kathi and off I started cutting and piecing with my Kona from my Kona Club to get the top above.  I love to use the Aurifil 50 wt for piecing and I always piece with grey thread, I have a light, medium and dark grey and it blends beautiful and helps me piece so much better.

Trial of quilting idea

flower now taking shape

happy with this flower for my template

Whilst I am making a top I always consider my quilting design.  I had decided an overall pattern would be good, I find playing with a drawing app which I can take a photo of my quilt into and then just doodle different designs on helps with this process.   I needed to make this quilt and have it quilted quickly.  This brings me to my new love in hand quilting - the BIG STITCH or utility quilting.  I love to use Aurifil 12 wt for these projects.  This quilt measures 53" which will be a good lap size quilt.  I recently quilted a single bed size quillow also in big stitch and had it completed in 2 weeks and who said hand quilting takes forever.  I am using a Shashiko smaller needle and it makes quilting a breeze, I also use a clover adjustable thimble, one for my thumb to quilt away from me and one for my middle finger so I can quilt towards me.

choosing thread colour for backing purposes

choosing thread colour for quilt top purposes

So I have my quilting design all ready to go with the flower and I will just wing some swirls between those flowers to connect it all together and make sure the quilting is all around the same amount of denseness.  I am then deciding on the right colour for the job.  My thoughts this time was between a lemon or a white thread.  I ended up choosing the lemon as it just seemed to give more warmth to this project and blended well with the back as with the front.  I want my design to pop so I don't want to hide my stitches.

starting of quilting

flower and loops beginning 

halfway through within a few days and getting ready for the happy dance

last night before bed the last row of stitching waiting for me

So this morning I woke to the last row of stitching.  This quilt will be finished today with the binding hand stitched down tonight.  If you would like to see how I do this I have a blog tutorial here

I am linking this with Sew simple Saturday with Sew and Sow Farm and with Kathy's slow stitching Sunday  Be sure to check them out and make sure you follow me as I have lots of exciting news to come in the next few weeks.  

So until next time have a wonderful day and keep on smiling and stitching up a storm,

Wendy