Quilting Dot-to-Dot on my Quilt-Along Project

Looking back at my blogs, I realised that I started the Beginners' Quilt-Along well over a year and a half ago. Time sure does fly! My last post was in August 2012. By then, I had eleven of the blocks made. The entire quilt was made of 13 squares. I thought I would use an on-point layout, but changed my mind, so I ended up using only 12 squares. I discarded the black and white square, since technically they are not the same colour. All of the other squares are monochromatic. I was a lot of fun finding (and buying) the fabrics. Thank goodness for fat quarters!

Quilt-Along quilt in progress

I think I put the squares together in the winter of 2013 during a guild quilting retreat. I remember making the piano keys for the border. I really like how it worked out. Here's a partial view of the quilt-in-progress.

I wanted to wait to quilt this until I was able to do some free-motion quilting. Since I now have more experience and have learned various free motion techniques, it's time to practice on my Beginners' Quilt-Along quilt. The technique I decided to use is called Dot-to-Dot quilting with Angela Walters through Craftsy. I've really enjoyed Angela's class. There are three main quilting patterns and then tons of variations that you can create.

Orange block

I now have 5 of the blocks quilted and 3 of them marked, ready for quilting. That leaves 4 more blocks after that, plus the sashing and the piano keys border. I've been able to use the three main patterns and many of the variations on these blocks. It's coming along very well. Here are some of the quilted blocks.

First quilted block without marking - Yikes!

Purple block

This gold block to the left was the first one that I quilted after spending about 30 minutes practicing. It's pretty awful if you consider that most of those lines are supposed to be straight! After that block, I've been marking all of the others before quilting them. Since they are all straight lines that can be done with a ruler, it's really not that time consuming. For the result, I think that it's well worth the time spent.

Yellow block

Pink block

Marked lilac block

Marked green block

Here are the 3 marked blocks that I'll be quilting soon. I've been able to mark all of these squares with a pen that disappears when you iron the fabric. I didn't bother marking all of the lilac square since I'll just be following the lines of the windmill design .

Marked lime green block

What I learned:

• I will probably be marking these for a while. Of course the more I practice, the better I'll get.
• Marking is really not that time consuming since it's only with a ruler and not a template.
• Marking also lets me figure out what I want to quilt. If I don't like it, I just iron the marking off!
• It's also helping me get better at quilting on the line. It's more difficult than you might think!