Novantique

I took a bit of a break from my work on Suffragette to machine quilt a small project that I blogged about some time ago. I needed a break from sewing flying geese (not only are there plenty on the center of Suffragette, there are also more in the borders!), and I also hoped to have something to work on in the car when we drove to Ohio to visit my family over the 4th (bindings are perfect for this).

This small piece had been sitting and calling my name for some time. I finished piecing it quite a while back (it was a WIP here) and then debated about what exactly I wanted to do in terms of quilting. Took it to my last Daiwabo Club meeting at Bigsby's and I think it's probably good that I did. Normally, I just would have quilted this with some sort of all-over design our a stipple/meander, but was encouraged to try something more individually block based.

Staff there directed me to the book Skillbuilder Mastery for Quilting by Machine by Renae Allen. It's mean to go along with a practice quilting panel (and a CD that I don't have), but where this book is good is that it shows you quilting patterns that might be appropriate for particular block layouts (e.g. stars, those based on a 9-patch grid, triangles, etc.) and shows you a few blocks quilted with those designs. It also provides blank templates so you can draw out your design for quilting once you've sized the block appropriately. Once again, I must say that I am thankful that I can handle some basic math, as I had to downsize these pretty significantly to fit the small blocks of this quilt. Here's my drawing of the pattern I quilted in each of the blocks and the setting triangles.

I used Golden Threads paper and got smart this time and needle punched the extra papers so I didn't have to draw out the designs over and over. This worked fairly well, although there was definitely some issue getting all of the paper out of some of the smaller areas between sewing lines. This is where ingenuity came into play and I discovered that the lint roller is helpful in picking up some of the tiny bits of excess that get all over the place!

I used a variegated thread on the top that I purchased for a class with Ann Fahl in May and which just happened to be the perfect color complement to this project. And I'd also purchased for that class some Bottom Line that was just right in terms of blending with the backing fabric (I left the spools at home, otherwise I'd let you know exactly what I used). Seeing as I hadn't really planned to quilt this when I did and of course wanted to start right away, I feel very fortunate that I was able to make do with what I happened to have around home and that I didn't feel like I had to compromise in using what I had. Here's a view of part of the back of the quilt, which shows off the quilting pretty well.

I don't think I ever mentioned what this was based on. It's the pattern Novantique, a Schnibbles pattern by Carrie L. Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. (which doesn't appear to have its own website). The pattern was designed to use charm packs, but I made my own charms out of my growing stash of Daiwabo fabrics. I ordered the pattern at some point a while back from the Fat Quarter Shop. I must say that I am more than happy with how this turned out!