Hand Quilting & Sunshine

Oh my, how I've enjoyed hand quilting Aria's Fairytale Patchwork quilt! The entire process has been so relaxing and satisfying, especially experimenting with different quilting patterns. Here are a few new ones.

This pattern, quilted diamonds, ended up being my favorite style for quilting on the Princess and the Pea blocks. It looks especially nice on this Diamond Mine (from Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks collection) block, which actually inspired the quilting pattern.

Here's another fun one. I only used this star pattern on a few unicorn blocks, as I came to the idea a bit late in the game. I like how it works with the layout of the print!

And, a simple pattern. It creates a clean-lined, understated effect that works on almost any block.

I've been asked how long the hand quilting takes. Let me start by saying that 95% of the time, I was stitching while watching a show with my husband. So, given frequent breaks to watch the screen and an overall level of comfortable distraction, each block took me about 45 minutes to complete. I would begin a block by marking my stitch lines with a chaco pen, and then carefully centering the block in my quilting frame. On the few occasions that I stitched sans TV, the work came along much faster.

I have now completed all 26 blocks. The overall effect is fairly random, since I varied the quilting patterns enough so that no 2 touching blocks share the same pattern. So, now, at last the quilt is finished. And, for some reason that makes me sad. I think I'll just so miss the hand quilting! How can I watch Alias empty-handed? It just won't be the same. I definitely need a new handwork project.

Although this quilt is a gift from my mother and I for Aria's November birthday, we've agreed to give it to her now. She'll be so excited! I'm dreaming of making a pillowcase from extra fabric scraps for a birthday surprise. Shhhhh!

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Today at home.