That was all basted together in a jiffy...
... and because I went for some very straight forward stitch-in-the-ditch quilting, that was done in no time, as well. Now the quilt is waiting for binding and it's complete.
I'm happy with the borders I chose - more subtle hues of the red and aqua, because the intensity of the quilt colours was getting to me.
That's also why I chose "in the ditch" quilting - whatever thread colour I would have chosen, it would have shown up big time on half the squares, and I didn't want to make this quilt any more busy than it was already.
Some Musings On Ditch-Stitching
I've come across some blogs by accomplished quilters in the past year, who seem to have a strong aversion to stitching in the ditch, poo-pooing that method at every chance they get. I've noticed that I started to shy away from SITD (maybe not an official abbreviation, but it is such a mouthful). Really, there's no reason to do that! I think SITD can have a great effect on a quilt, magically popping shapes out of the quilt without any apparent quilting on the front. Also, SITD is really quite tricky - the tiniest deviation from your line will show up big time when you either hit the bulky part of the seam or veer away from it - much different from a little off-line quilting during stippling for example, where everything is a bit off-line.
So, I've decided not to listen to the SITD bashers, use it when this quilting methods works well with the overall quilt and try my hardest to get better at my steady hand and keeping to the line!
.JPG)
5 comments:
Ignore those non SITD'ers. There are times when that method is the only one that suits a quilt. And you are right it does make some shapes literally pop out at you. cute fabric for the backing...is that froggie with a crown?
I'm a big fan of SITD or "ditchwork". I use it to hold the layers together while I do more elaborate stitching within a section. Once I've done all the ditchwork, I can take out my pins and I'm not constantly trying to pull a pin to get my free motion work to go just where I want it to. Lane
Hooray for not listening to those nay sayers. I often find that those that don't do some simple quilting, when it would have been appropriate, end up over quilting and the quilt is so stiff it could stand in a corner.
Crispy
I know how you feel but I love the ditch effect. I think I should do some, but I find my free motion quilting is such fun that I forget about the look of the ditch quilting.
Maybe the next one. Remind me.
I love SITD. I'm with you the appearance of the blocks popping out gives a quilt a mystical look. Don't listen to all those others, do what you like. :)
Post a Comment