A Big Stitch in Time

 I wanted to start the new year off mastering something new. I had tried big stitch once before and was not happy with my results, so I whipped up a little top made entirely of vintage feedsack scraps for a practice piece. I used Barb Vedder's (Fun With Barb) Baptist Fan stencil which was so easy to mark. This is the first time I had marked an entire top before sandwiching it. I am a lazy quilter and do not baste for hand quilting except for around the edges to keep the batting from getting in my way. I simply start in the middle and work my way out to the edge. I tried my normal quilting thread for the first arch, but it was a bit thin looking so I switched to #8 pearl cotton. When teaching hand quilting, I like to tell my students not to worry about size as your stitches will get smaller with practice. Guess that rings true for the big stitch too because I started out with nice big stitches and they got smaller and smaller! 😂 So in conclusion, the jury is still out, but either way I need more practice!! 

 

 

May all your stitches be happy ones!

Another year of Quilty Fun!

 First finish for 2025. This is my little offering for the Instagram 2025 Doll Quilt Swap hosted by Linda Collins (Quilts in the Barn). All it needs now is a label and it will zoom off to its new owner. 

The center consists of simple random shapes using this fabric for the bird in the center and then surrounded by four corner circles. I just love throwing pieces down on fabric and stitching them in place. 

The outer borders were a bit more fiddly so I backbasted them to make sure of the proper placement. All in all, it was a really fun little quilt to make. Hope my swap partner likes it as well. 

 

I have also been hand quilting along on my Quiltmania Mystery quilt designed (with a few changes by me) by Susan Smith. I started it last January but abandoned it for nearly a full year before picking it up again. 

Off to the sewing room! I hope 2025 will be full of quilty goodness. Let's spread the joy!