Love in Postage Stamps

Thanks for your encouragement about this postage stamp project earlier this month.  I had a really hard time committing to a setting for the bee blocks.  No idea felt like "the one."  Even after I joined them as one giant plus, I was still second guessing myself, wondering if the multi-plus setting would have been better.

But no.  This is good enough.  

To redeem my lackluster quilt top experience, I decided to get creative with the quilting.  I've been wanting to try a diamond grid, to see how our longarm quilting machine would handle a quilting pattern that demands intense precision.  But rather than a simple all-over grid, I wanted to do something that would emphasize the giant plus shape.

I got excited about the idea of making ghost plusses.  In the solid blue portion of the quilt, there is a smattering of plus-shaped portions left un-quilted and outlined to emphasize the plus shape.  I love them!

In the center of the quilt, the central blue plus is quilted minimally.  This makes it stand out visually.  Since the center plus is made up of large squares, it was a good candidate for sparse quilting.

So, the tiny quilted grid?  It looks fantastic, don't you think?  And what a great way to reinforce all of those 1.5" squares, to make this charity quilt really last.  Although it's true that tight quilting makes a quilt stiffer, it also creates a delightful texture.  I love running my hands across it.  I don't think people should be afraid of dense quilting.  It's a trade off - durability for less drape.  There are times when one is more important than the other.

I mentioned this grid quilting was somewhat a test.  We've decided we don't want to offer it for edge to edge quilting service because we can't guarantee that all of the points will line up perfectly.  Many of my points have small gaps between them of 1/16 to 1/8 inch.  Obviously you can't see that when you step back.  However, there is one place in the quilt where this is a 1/4" gap between points.  For reasons that are hard to explain, that gap could not be rectified.  I think a customer would be disappointed with that..  So, in the interests of complete customer satisfaction, this is a pattern we'll reserve for smaller spaces, like borders or custom quilting fill.

Love in Postage Stamps is now quilted and bound and ready to make its journey to Wrap Them in Love.  Thank you, Love circle of do. Good Stitches, for taking this journey with me and being patient while I figured out what to do!  You're such a kind group.  And thanks to my helpers on the outdoor photoshoot.  Smooch.