Challenge one consisted of quilting 2 items, using 2 different marking tools and 2 different types of thread.
I have never quilted by hand. I have been English paper piecing for about 2 years now. So I thought that this would be a good challenge to start me in this adventure!
My first item is a large hot pad. It is made of a string quilt square that I cut the wrong size. I added a piece of yellow material to the outside and bound it in Aqua. I chose both colors to match fabric in the original square.
To hand quilt it I decided to use a flower stencil I had. I used a Frixion Pen to mark it. I then used American Quilting Thread that I bought at Joann's to quilt it. I bought this thread about a year ago by accident. I later learned from people on another quilting page that is is a good quality lower cost thread. It is wax coated to prevent knotting and to allow for smooth stitching. This was a small project that came together pretty quickly.
My second project is a baby quilt that I have been working on for months. It is a collection of Ahhhh's from Hillbilly quilt Shop. I hand appliquéd the Ahhhh's to a background that I machine quilted. I then used a Valdani 3 strand floss to quilt it. For the marking I used a quilting ruler and marked the quilt with a Frixion Marker as the Ahhhh's were on dark material and the pen did not show up well. The process of quilting this took a while, I think mostly due to the thickness of the material and floss.
In reviewing the Frixion Pen Vs Highlighter. On dark material the Frixion pen does not show up well. On lighter colored material the pen shows up really well. The highlighter I used was yellow. It showed up really well on the dark blue, white and black. It did not show up well on the yellow. So I think the highlighters work well on darks or fabric that is not similar to its color. Both the pen and the highlighter were easily removed by a hot iron.
Reviewing the threads. The cheaper Joann's American Quilting Thread did really well. It did not tangle and held up well. The downside is that it was very thin. I believe it would do well for suttle quilting that you really did not want noticed. The Valdani 3 strand thread that I bought from Hillbilly Quilt Shop, was very noticeable and stood out. I really liked that. If I am going to spend that much time quilting something I want it noticed. You did have to make a bigger knot in to to prevent it from coming threw the fabric. It also popped a little easier then the quilting thread. In the end though I like both and now know the different use of each thread.
I look forward to the next challenge and especially the challenge to try new things!! Didn't have enough room for all the photos so they keep going...
OH great review, this is exactly what I was looking for for this challenge. You learned a lot didn't you. I am a bit jealous. I do have some things I wanted to have ready. I'll have to bump mine a month if jerry holds out this next month
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