Showing posts with label stitching-in-the-ditch. Show all posts

Thursday, February 26, 2026

Quilting a Scrappy Quilt and I Quilted This!

Hello and welcome 😊. I'm glad that you've dropped by for a visit. I've got lots of projects on the go, but today I'm going to share with you the beginning of a scrappy quilt getting quilted. I finally finished piecing the backing - it just needed an extra strip of fabric, which luckily I had. If you're interested in reading about the construction of this scrappy orange quilt, see Related links below.

Stitching-in-the-ditch a scrappy quilt

I almost always start my quilting by stitching-in-the-ditch. This time, because I hadn't sandwiched the quilt as well as I usually do, I stitched starting only on one side of the quilt, as opposed to all around it. This way, if there is any puckering in the quilt, I'll be able to adjust it when I get to the middle or the other side (in theory anyways). I stitched about a third of the quilt and so far, everything is fine.

Stitching-in-the-ditch before FMQ

For those of you who are not quilters, stitching-in-the-ditch is often done to stabilize a quilt before doing more extensive quilting. With my sewing machine's walking foot, I sew between pieced blocks. The trick is to stitch exactly in the seams between each block (in the ditch). If you do this correctly, the quilting is invisible. Unfortunately, for me it's more hit and miss - most of the stitching is invisible but some can be seen next to the seam. However, when a quilt is finished, you can't see any of this unless you're looking for it.

The lines indicate where you would stitch-in-the ditch,
i.e. in the seams between blocks

From the back, you can see where I've stitched so far. As I mentioned, I'm making my way across the quilt, to ensure that the fabric is nice and flat.

You can see the stitching from the back of the quilt

I'm going to keep this post short since I'll be publishing another post on Saturday for A Quilter's Cove QAL linking party. Our March houses are green. I'm having a great time putting together some lovely colourful houses based on the Nyhavn (New Harhour) neighbourhood in Copenhagen.

What I learned

I've just re-read my original post about this quilt. It seems that I wanted to FMQ using dot-to-dot quilting à la Angela Walters. Sounds like a good plan😁
I had mentioned last week that I wanted to do more FMQ - so that's what I'm doing. This is the first step to starting.
Instead of using my dining table to sandwich the quilt, I used my bed. I placed a cardboard cover on it (the ones you use for sewing clothing on to save your table). It's not as stable as the dining table so that's why I've decided to stitch from one side of the quilt to the other - so that I can get rid of any puckers that come up. So far it's working out well.

Related links

Orange Scraps and a Baby Quilt, July 02, 2025

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. You might want to check some out, after you've linked up below. Monday Musings, Sew & Tell, Put your foot down, Off The Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts, Oh Scrap!,

I Quilted This!

Welcome to the I Quilted This! linking party that celebrates quilting on a domestic machine or custom quilting on a long-arm. Feel free to link up and share any recent project, even if you're not quilting it! Here are the posts from last week that included FMQ, ruler work and walking foot quilting. Thanks for linking up 😊 and feel free to grab the button.

Gwyned Trefethen made a lovely runner for the Project Quilting 17.4 Challenge, An other era. Here is her psychedelic and Op Art table runner which she called "Peace, Man". It sure has the right vibes!

"Peace, Man" by Gwyned

Sally from Crafts, Cavies and Cooking also participated in the Project Quilting 17.4 Challenge, An other era. She chose the Art Deco era and made this lovely rug mug using foundation paper piecing. This also has vibes from that era!

Art Deco mug rug by Sally

I also participated in the Project Quilting 17.4 Challenge, An other era but forgot to link up to my own party 😕 I chose to play with the Victorians by making a crazy quilt. I used lovely fabrics and then embroidered between the seams.

Crazy Quilt from the Victorian era by Andrée

It's now your turn 😍

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Pinwheels on Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 282 of Free Motion Mavericks. I'm now in the process of free motion quilting (FMQ) my Pinwheels and Stars Baby Quilt.

Pinwheels and Stars Baby Quilt

On my last Free Motion Mavericks post, I had just been doing some stitching-in-the-ditch around all of the blocks. I took my time and since the background fabric is white, there was usually white fabric to stitch around so that the thread didn't show up too much. I know that I could use invisible thread but I really want to learn to get better, not just hide my mistakes. Overall, I'm quite happy with the results of this FMQ so far.

Quilting-in-the-ditch to outline the star

Quilting-in-the-ditch is done
and it's ready to FMQ

Picking a FMQ design

Now comes the hard part - what design to use?

My first question is: do I want the FMQ to be circular /curvy, or angular / straight? Since the piecing of both the pinwheels and stars is angular with half square triangles (HST), do I want to emphasize this or create contrast by adding curves? I can, of course do both but it would need to be consistent throughout the quilt.

My second question, applies to the pinwheel blocks: do I use a separate design for each HST or an overall design?

I guess my third consideration is purely practical - how much effort and time do I want to take to FMQ the pinwheel blocks, given that they will be secondary to the centre piece.

I quickly looked at my FMQ journal but decided that I would check the internet for "fmq designs for pinwheel blocks". I got an interesting variety of images. I drew variations of some of my favourites:

FMQ curves within the block

Assortment of FMQ lines that could be used in the block

Overall designs that can be used

Choosing just one design is beyond me at this time (fuzzy brains don't like making decisions).
Since there are 7 sets of pinwheel blocks within the baby quilt, I could FMQ each set of blocks differently. I think that as long as each pinwheel is treated the same within each block, that this should give it enough cohesiveness. I can only hope 😊 Let's face it, no matter what, it's bound to be a cute baby quilt - so I'm going for the practicing with variety option.

Here are the two sets of pinwheels that I FMQ this evening.

I chose to FMQ spirals around this first batch of pinwheels, mostly because they are the worse constructed ones. My problem at the time wasn't piecing bur rather trimming. I'm hoping that the spirals won't accent the problem.

FMQ spirals in each pinwheel block

This second design is from Angela Walter's video, Three Ways to Machine Quilt Pinwheel Blocks. In this block, she creates a tiny pinwheel in the white background fabric and then adds extra lines to highlight the mini pinwheels. In the coloured triangles she uses a dot-to-dot design to add two wedges inside them.

Adding a mini pinwheel shape in the background triangles

What's on for the week

I've signed up for the TextileArtist.org Stitch Club and have just accessed the Facebook page. I haven't done this week's workshop yet, so I'm hoping to get that going so that I don't fall behind.
I also want to work on my Traveller's Blanket. Here is my last post. I've done a little bit of work on it, including making a couple more meditation stitched blocks.
Finally if the fuzzy brain lifts a little, I have a niece who is waiting for her curtains 😊

What I learned

Am I over thinking the design for the pinwheels? Probably. On the other hand these images will be pasted into my FMQ journal so that I'll have a number of choices for the next time.
Full disclosure (as they say), one of the reasons I'm going with a variety is that the design I like the best is the one that I almost always choose....so I'm going to try out other things. When I've tried them out, we'll see how they turn out and if my favourite is still the same😊.

Free Motion Mavericks

The party wasn't big last week but we had some wonderful link-ups. Thank you! As the instructions for the link-up states, the first person who links up from a new country gets a special mention and their country is added to the list. So, a big welcome to Turid from Norway. She finished a FMQ dinosaurs quilt for her grandson. As you can imagine, he was thrilled! If you didn't catch the post last time, here's the link!

Dinosaurs Quilt by Turid

It's your turn now!

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Baby Quilt at Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 280 of Free Motion Mavericks. I found a free motion quilting (FMQ) project to work on during my Free Motion Mavericks posts. Here it is!

Pinwheel & Stars Baby Quilt

This project has been around for years (a very early UFO). I started the blocks at least 5 or 6 years ago, before I figured out that piecing was not my thing. I love pinwheels and the fabrics I used are so bright and cheerful. I had made the blocks that make up this quilt, but I would have needed at least double this amount to make the full quilt. If I can find the magazine with the original quilt pattern, I'll add it to Related links below.

Mini pinwheel blocks and large stars

Bright pinwheels and stars

Then, in 2016, I made my first baby quilt featuring a large negative space for FMQ, A Beautiful Day. The second quilt, Charming, was based on the same concept and was published in Make Modern Magazine in January 2018.

A bright yellow Beautiful Day baby quilt

A Beautiful Day

Details of the FMQ Moon and Sun

Charming baby quilt from Make Modern Magazine

Charming Baby Quilt in Make Modern Magazine

It's around that time that I found these blocks. Since I was not going to make more blocks, I decided to place these around a large negative space that could be used for FMQ.

Lots of negative space for some fun FMQ in the middle

Tonight I started stitching-in-the-ditch. I will be outlining the blocks and then the fun begins. If you have any suggestions for the middle, please let me know. At this time, I'm thinking pinwheels and flowers. I'm also considering using coloured thread for the central FMQ. What do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas 😊

Adding a fabric strip on the side
to test the tension

What I learned

I'm really glad that I had this quilt sandwiched and ready to go. It will be a fun project for Free Motion Mavericks and I actually have a new baby to give it to once we can visit again.
I saw some quilters add a strip of fabric on the extra batting and backing of the edge of their quilts to check their stitching tension. I remembered and tried it here. What a great idea. Thanks!
I've got some of the stitching-in-the-ditch finished. Next Free Motion Mavericks I'll have some FMQ to show you!

Free Motion Mavericks

We had some lovely projects linked up last time. Thanks so much for taking the time to join our party! We've been watching Quilting Gail make her Stay-at-Home Round Robin quilts for a few weeks now. Well, the results are well worth seeing! Go to her post to see the FMQ from the back of her quilt. She must of had a lot of fun doing all that FMQ! It's really lovely😊

Quilting Gail's Blue Stay-at-Home Round Robin quilt

It's your turn!

Friday, June 30, 2017

Progress

Yikes! June is almost finished - just a few hours left!

Dahlia flower (although I see tulips!)

This is a quick post to prove that progress has been made! My June OMG (One Monthly Goal) was "to do some free motion quilting on my Neutral Lap Quilt - Take 5 Loves Coffee Milk", and I did!

I sandwiched it on the weekend, did some stitching-in-the-ditch around each block and then decided on a few stencils to use.

This quilted block is made from a large dahlia stencil but I'll be adding a little something later so that it fills out the edges of the whole inside block.

Lotus Flowers

This quilted block is from a lotus flower stencil. This was great since it does take up most of the inside block. I just added a leaf on both sides of the middle strip to complete it.

Fanciful Heart Pattern

This third block has a fanciful heart motif. I'll be adding a little something extra so that it takes up the whole space of the inner block.

I now have 13 more blocks to quilt! I'll be using these stencil patterns again as well as one more that I haven't tried out yet.

I also found a great series of Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) sample blocks at ipatchandquilt. I have been practicing Esther's Fantasy block which is part of her FMQ samples - part 13 - orange peel variations. Have a look (see Related Links below) - she is doing some amazing quilting!

Practicing the Stem Stitch

I've been adding to the stem stitch sampler which I started on my trip to Quilt Canada last week. I'm calling it Étude in Stem Stitching.

Étude in Stem Stitching - to date!

Details of Étude in Stem Stitching

I had a great time coming up with different FMQ designs to draw and then stem stitch. I did use a few detached chain and lazy daisy stitches.

The colours aren't always very visible on this background. I'm not sure what I'll do with this after I've finished the embroidery. I think I would like to add beads and maybe even add some paint (that would be very brave of me!)

More details of Étude in Stem Stitching

Isn't is amazing how a photo lets your really "see" your piece? One of the National Juried Show winners at Quilt Canada said that she takes pictures at every step to review how her quilt is coming along. I really want to use this technique.

I'm mentioning this because as I look at the flower here, I see that I should be adding a few more petals in the lower right side to even it out.

Come back tomorrow for Canada Day - Celebrate - Fêtons 150!

What I learned

As I just mentioned, I want to take more photos of my pieces, especially those that I am designing, to get another perspective of the work. This is one lesson I really hope I will remember.
It would seem that I don't really do quick posts! I always have something to say about quilting. Thanks for humouring me. :-)

Related Links

Esther at ipatchandquilt - FMQ samples - part 13 - orange peel variations

Post of the Stem Stitch project

Countdown to Canada Fêtons 150, June 22, 2017

Posts for Neutral Lap Quilt - Take 5 Loves Coffee Milk

Celebrate - Fêtons 150 in June - June 1, 2017
April Finishes - April 30, 2017

Linking Parties: I am linking this post to OMG June Finish Link-up, as well as many others. Please check them out to see what is happening. Midweek Makers, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off the Wall Friday, Free Motion Mavericks, Finished or Not Friday, Slow Sunday Stitching, MOP Monday,

Friday, November 14, 2014

Better Late Than Never! A Fall Door Hanging

I seem to be running behind on my seasons! I just finished my fall door hanging....and just put it up last night. It was too dark to see but I'm sure it'll be awesome in the daylight :-) I guess I'm not that late since there is still no snow on the ground and many of the Canada Geese are still hanging around.

The two foundation paper pieced blocks

I love these door hanging projects because I tend to create them from different blocks and then I challenge myself by putting them together, hopefully into a cohesive whole. They are also perfect for practicing my free motion quilting (FMQ).

This project is made up of four primary blocks:

two are foundation paper pieced;
one is an appliqué; and
the other is pieced.

The pieced basket

Appliquéd oak leaf

The two foundation paper pieced blocks are from a miniature collection that I've received through the Quilting by the Square's newsletter (both are from Month #4). I was intrigued by the Twisted Log Cabin. I love the mouvement within it. I couldn't make a fall project without some red maple leaves in it to represent Canada! I love the contrast between the bright yellow and the red.

The appliquéd oak leaf is a block from "Turning Leaves", from the September/October 2002 issue of Quiltmaker. I really wanted to incorporate the black leaf fabric but didn't want it to overwhelm the hanging. I think that it contrasts well with the basket weave type fabric in the other half of the block.

I also found some tiny bits of apple fabric that I had to somehow incorporate. I thought that the basket block would be the best place for it. The basket comes from "Bounty of Baskets" quilt by Betsy Chutchian. The quilt is in the June 2012 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting. I also wanted to add something within the basket. The free motion quilted plant looks better in person than on the photo. I added some emphasis by quilting several times within some parts of it. The design is from Mary M. Covey's Follow-the-Line Quilting Designs, Volume 4.

Fall Door Hanging

Since the door hanging represents fall, I included flying geese borders that are heading both south and east. Even if the Canada Geese are still here, they are bound to leave soon. I love the sound of they make in the spring, but I find it sad in the fall!

I had a great time quilting the project. As Cindy Needham's Design it, Quilt it: Free-Form Techniques suggests in , I "stitched in the ditch most of the stinking seams". That helps me get into the groove of FMQ and stabilizes the project at the same time. Since I wanted some consistency within the quilting, I chose to use an oak leaf with a nut in most of the brown solid spaces. As Cindy suggests, I let my quilted design go outside of the area. This gives the quilt more depth.
I added mouvement to the quilt by emphasizing the direction of the flying geese with some dot-to-dot quilting. That helps the eyes follow the direction of the blocks.

This door hanging is less densely quilted than my spring and summer door hangings. This was done intentionally to highlight the leaf and nut FMQ. I really like the balance of empty space and quilted space.

On the door before the snow!

What I learned:

I keep forgetting that stitching-in-the-ditch is really effective and almost invisible when done with thread that blends in, such as Superior Thread's Bottom Line. I almost always use this in the bobbin when FMQ but I forget how versatile it is.
I bought some shiny light Madeira polyester thread (Polyneon No. 40) last week. It's more than eye candy - I used three shades of gold/brown on the FMQ of the oak leaf with a nut pattern. I then used a couple of shades of green on the plant within the basket.
My other two door hangings had our family name embroidered within it. I prefer more anonymity so my daughter suggested I add the house number instead. What a great idea.
What's next? Should I make a winter and/or Christmas door hanging before spring?

I've linked my post to a couple of websites. Have a look at what everyone else is doing!