Monday, March 24, 2008

Machine or hand quilting

HI! Ooops, sorry, I'm still learning to post comments and I didn't mean to be "anonymous" on my comment to Carol. I would love some opinions for a wall-hanging, a gift for my Norwegian relative who is arriving for a visit on Saturday. I used a variety of brights including some Kaffe fabrics and made a teapot and two teacups with some fun borders. I really like how it has turned out so far but I'm stumped with how to quilt it. So far I've been finishing my quilts with stitch-in-the-ditch and very simple free motion quilting, but I think this needs more than that & what I wonder is this...what do you think would look better, less-than-perfect free motion machine quilting or less-than-perfect hand quilting? I'm leaning towards trying perle cotton hand stitching, but I've never done done that and this is a gift...the teacups and teapot are on a white background delicately flecked with spring green, and that's the area I'm most worried about.
Merci, thanks! Andrea
(I can't post pictures yet but hope to get geared up technologically for that soon.)

4 comments:

Magpie Sue said...

You might consider machine stitching in the ditch around the tea cups and pot, just to make them stand out from the background a little, and along the edge of the border, and then try hand quilting "steam" rising from the cups and maybe the spout of the teapot. Best of both worlds perhaps?

Brenda said...

I'm biased toward handquilting, even less than perfect and whose isn't, anyway? It's easy to unpick, its fun to do, and relaxing, and portable, and you can watch TV or a movie without guilt when you quilt. Then again, I can't drop the feed dogs on my otherwise wonderful old Elna, so that's why I rarely machine quilt.

Quiltdivajulie said...

I am blessed to have an extremely gifted long arm quilter who quilts my tops. But, if I do hand quilting, it is with heavier cotton threads, and I don't try to be precise or even. Best wishes as you ponder what to do next!

Tonya Ricucci said...

I vote for hand quilting too. I love the look of it and I don't think you can do it wrong. that way you can do lots of swirly steam which will be fun. You might try that after doing as Sue suggests and machine stitch in the ditch first. I'm sure it's going to look great and I look forward to seeing photos soon.