Machine Quilting – more tips for marking

Today was the day to finish the machine quilting on the collaborate quilt with my Mom.

The next step in quilting was to add some quilting to the inside of the octagonal blocks. I had originally thought I would do some meandering around the flowers, but, with the charity groups encouragement, I decided that it would look better with straight lines echoing the outside shape.

The only problem with these lines is that they would need to be free-motion quilted, and straight lines are notoriously hard to do. SO, I started outwith much trepidation and fear that I would soon be un-quilting large sections.

I decided to use a new “favorite” product to mark the quilting lines. The product is a white marking pen put out by Clover. The pen draws a fine white line on dark fabrics which can be removed simply by ironing the fabric.

The only drawback to the pen is that the line appears as the ink dries…. a few seconds after you draw it. You just have to be patient!!!

Here is the block with the quilting lines drawn on.

A quick hit with the iron removes the lines.


And the block is finished!!!! (In order to see the actual quilting lines, you will need to click on the block to see a larger photo)

I will post the final quilting steps later in the week…..

Quilting Day

I decided to spend much of today working on the machine quilting for the queen size quilt that my Mother and I are doing together.

I knew that I wanted to put some fairly detailed quilting in the large blank spaces, so decided to use Golden Threads Quilting Paper to mark the quilt. If you have never used this product, it is a fine paper that allows you to easily quilt a detailed pattern. This is the process that I use…..

Draw the design on the paper using a Sharpie and then pin it into place on the quilt.

Quilt along (or close to) the drawn lines

Tear the paper off.

If you are having trouble getting the paper off, you can use a seam ripper (or other pointy notion) to “cut” around the quilted lines.

This tears the paper further so that it comes out easily.

Here is the final result of some of my quilting using Golden Threads.