Embroidered Iris Quilt Top Finish ~ Quilting Plan

The Iris quilt top hung on the wall for a few days, while I tried to come up with the ultimate quilting plan. Then, last night in a burst genius, I decided to keep it simple with a 2 inch crosshatching through the embroidered blocks, arcs in the sashing and a piano key border. With that settled, onto the frame she went and the plan to start quilting first thing in the morning after my morning cup of decaf.

This morning, I walked past the sewing room and glanced at the quilt on the frame.  I found myself rethinking the quilting plan as I went through my morning wake up ritual.  Sigh...why can’t I just stick to the plan? Why do I make things harder for myself?  I didn't make these quilt blocks.  I’m not even keeping this quilt, and the recipient isn’t a quilter, they won’t care about the quilting. Yet there I was at 9 a.m. taking it off the frame so I could try out the different new quilting ideas.

 If you look closely at the image, you’ll see a large piece of plexiglass over the quilt block in the image below. Using dry erase markers, I experimented with the different ideas. 

Originally, I thought the crosshatching could go over the embroidery, now that idea doesn't feel right, it would push the embroidery into the background.

The new plan is to quilt around the outside of the Iris. It’s time consuming, but it will really make the Iris stand up and be the star of the show. 

The straight lines radiating from the center is common for this type of preprinted embroidered block.  However, it is not the preprinted quilting design on this block.  I can barely see the preprinted design but it's there and I hope it washes out.

The only quilting in the sashing will be a wavy line in the green gingham fabric, this will help frame each block and soften the harshness of the radiating straight lines around the Iris. 

The final lavender border will be kept simple with one-inch spaced piano keys.  

And that's it, no more changing my mind!

This last picture is a little eye candy of the all the fabrics and how they play together.  The border fabric is the one I planned to use in the sashing of the original plan that you can find here.

See y'all bright and early Monday morning with an update on the quilting.  Maybe I'll get it finished this weekend...HAHA!   Don't hold your breath!

Happy Stitching!

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2025 2 Bucks A Block Finish

 After nearly two months trapped on the quilt frame, she’s finally free. Now I adore her, but for those two long months, I was muttering curses like a sailor. She was innocent the whole time, it was me I was cursing.

My grand quilting vision for this quilt was crosshatching in the border triangles, fancy free motion feathers around each block, and a touch of free motion in the chain blocks. But somewhere along the way, I merrily crosshatched right through a few blocks, and rather than spend hours undoing my senior moment I decided the quilt clearly wanted to be almost entirely crosshatched.

The cursing ceased the moment she was off the frame. I adore simple quilting.  Sure, it took what seems like forever and left this old gal’s back hollering for mercy, but it suits the quilt perfectly. Let’s face it, simple quilting looks great on any quilt, while anything fancy is mostly just there for the big “WOW!” factor. Honestly, some of my favorite quilts are the tied ones with no quilting at all.

All three backing fabrics came from the yardage stash. The plaid is from Joann’s, the middle one is quilt shop quality though I can’t recall the manufacturer, and the bottom one is a Lori Holt Riley Blake.

The label was kept simple and sweet with no fabric framing.

For the binding, I decided to use the leftover scraps from the scrappy background fabrics in the quilt top. It wasn’t my original plan, since I usually love using ginghams or stripes for every quilt. But after going through all the gingham, plaid, and stripe options in my stash, none of them felt right. The white binding really let this quilt shine.

We all have our favorite aspects of quilting. For me, I enjoy designing quilts, but nothing compares to the satisfaction of hand stitching the binding to the back of the quilt.

It's exciting to finally be at the finishing stage of the quilt making process but at the same time it's relaxing and good for the soul.  

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Hand Stitching Update

 The Promenading Tulips Quilt is finally 100% finished.  The new yo-yo's blend into the quilt and only you and I will know the truth that I so boldly admitted to in the previous post.  

The yo-yos and inner scallop border are my favorite part of the quilt.  If you're interested in making this quilt or just the scalloped border you can find all the information needed by clicking here.

Now that she’s finished, I think she deserves some cuddling. For the past 12 years, she’s only been displayed as quilt ladder decor for a few months each year. Today, she’s finally going on my bed! Measuring about 85 x 104, she’ll have to be folded in half at the foot of the bed. But at night, I can wrap up with her and give her the love she’s been missing.

When I made this quilt, my stash wasn’t as big as it is now. My quilting style was shifting from Civil War colors to bright, cheerful fabrics, so I used what I had on hand to piece together the quilt back.

The first three fabrics I'm going to show you were all from an estate sale.  They had no dates on them so I can only tell you that I had purchased them in 2011 and the quilter passed in 2010.  My guess would be the first two are from the 1990's.

This one feels different both to the touch and to my eye. It could be a bit older, maybe from the 80s or earlier. Do you think it’s older or newer? Regardless of when they were made, they’re not the perfect backing, but I enjoy the whimsy and little girl vibe they bring to the quilt.

The fabric below I purchased at either Joann's or Walmart back in the early 2000's. 

The last fabric is another estate sale find.  It's thin and has some pilling, you know the little balls of fuzz you often would see on cheap muslin.  The pilling doesn't bother me.  Again, I just see the little imperfections as character and part of the quilts story.  

The last thing I did to make this quilt complete was to add a label. After sewing on the label, I started thinking about the new yo-yo fabric and it's the newest fabric on the quilt.  They say a quilt is only as old as the newest fabric.  Should my quilt survive 100 years, and a quilt historian gets a hold of it, they would say the label is a lie because the yo-yos were made from a fabric made at a later date.  Maybe I should add a handwritten note with archival ink or make a new label to include... "yo-yos added to finished quilt March 2026".  I think I'll sleep on the idea for a few days.  

As most of you know I like to share the good quilting stuff as well as the bad.  I feel it's important to share knowledge.  So here we go with a little more good news and a little bad.  

GOOD NEWS...This is what I use to clean my quilts from time to time.  It's a great product and I've never had any issues.  It's meant to be used on vintage fabrics that have started to turn yellow from age.  

I learned of this product from Kelly Cline Quilting.  She buys old quilt tops and quilts them on her long arm.  But before quilting she likes to clean them.  Here's her video sharing her process for cleaning the quilt tops.  Click image below to watch.

So as mentioned above, I've never had an issue with Restoration or Retro Clean, I've used both products over the years.  But as you might have guessed...there was an issue this time.  In the picture below, the tulip at the bottom WAS pink.

This fabric is old, most likely from the early 70's. It was from my mom's fabric stash.  It's not cotton and in many of my scrappy quilts, like my Bow Tie quilt I finished last year.  Seeing the tulips color washed out was heartbreaking.  But at least it was only one fabric that faded.  There's more than a few older and cheap fabrics in this quilt that could have also faded.  I'm happy it was only one.  The instructions on both products mention testing all fabrics before soaking.  Well, that's impossible with a scrap quilt, all I could do was take the chance.

So, there it is the good and the bad.

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Silent Stitching

 Ever feel like pulling the plug on the entire planet? Just a few glorious hours without internet, social media, TV, radio, or phone. Back in the day, my quilting setup was pure silence...well, unless you count the soothing purr of the sewing machine, which doubled as my own quirky brand of meditation music. Then the radio snuck in, next was the TV, and most recently podcasts.  After years of non-stop noise, my brain had enough.  The last two days has been almost total silence while sewing.

It’s incredible how much I can get done when there’s no noise. Even more fascinating is seeing where my mind wanders when I’m simply present in the moment. This weekend, while hand stitching yo-yos on the tulip quilt and sewing the binding to the back of my 2 bucks a block quilt, I’m staying unplugged from the world.

See you on Monday morning with an update on my silent hand stitching experiment.

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