Friday 22 August 2014

Quick and satisfying quilting

This weekend I had the opportunity to quilt up two little quilt tops made by my friend Lara. She is busy making lots of little quilts and other stitchy things for her sons' school fair, and a mutual friend and I decided to give her a hand.

Little 1930's repro print quilts 

There's really nothing fancy in this quilting - it took all of a couple of hours, but it was oh so satisfying to get done over the course of a day.

Little 1930's repro print quilts 

I'd been lucky enough to get my hands on Camille Roskelley's thread collection for Aurifil, Simplify, (thanks Anne!) and I was delighted to see that the colours went perfectly with the 1930's repro prints that Lara used in the quilt tops. Even more fortunately, the collection included a red thread that almost perfectly matched the solid Lara gave me as backing fabric.

Little 1930's repro print quilts 

I used the orange thread on the front of the quilts, and it blended in nicely while still adding just a little bit of interest.

Little 1930's repro print quilts 

You can see that I stuck with straight lines for the quilting, using very similar but slightly different designs for each quilt.

Little 1930's repro print quilts 

I also found a machine binding method that worked well for me. It's something I've struggled with, because I haven't really been happy with the finish on my machine bindings, especially compared to hand binding. But, it's so much quicker that it was worth persevering with. I want to play around with my new method a couple more times, and all going well I'll be sharing it on the blog after that.

Little 1930's repro print quilts

I also want to say a little something about Aurifil.  Like many in the online quilting world, I followed the discussion about Aurifil's marketing tactics (including online behaviour from its front-man, Alex Veronelli), with interest. I largely agreed with what Florence (aka Flossie Teacakes) had to say, and somewhat (but less so) with Abby Glassenberg's original post.  I also thought that Angela Pingel from Cut to Pieces made some valid points in her post on the topic.

Aurifil's marketing tactics, particularly the #aurigirls instagram campaign, made me uncomfortable enough to stop mentioning Aurifil in my blog posts and tagging #aurifil in my instagram pictures.  I did not, however, stop using Aurifil threads in my sewing machine and my hand stitching needle, because I believe they make great quality thread. I was relieved that I wasn't the only one who felt uncomfortable, and pleased when Aurifil and Alex Veronelli reacted positively by taking down the offending posts, and when Alex posted on Facebook addressing the issue head-on.

I think this topic has been talked about enough, so I'm not really looking to perpetuate the discussion.  However, I would like to publicly acknowledge that while I was disappointed with Aurifil's marketing efforts, I love their thread, and I appreciate the way they listened to the people who raised concerns, and responded positively.  It's certainly the first step to winning back my trust.

6 comments:

BillieBee (billiemick) said...

Cute!

Leeanne said...

Lovely little quilts. Interesting post about Aurifil threads, I love their threads, but have not heard of the bad flack re advertising.

Yvonne from Quilting Jetgirl said...

I know what you mean about machine binding. I want to love it... but I know I get such good results with hand stitching down binding that I tend to only practice machine binding on smaller mini quilts or placemats (ie not very often)! Your quilting looks great, and I scrolled up and down a bit looking at the photos thinking, "These are different, right? But so similar!" before reading your post (such a visual person). :)

Leonie said...

What's not to love about gorgeous and satisfying little quilts and quilting!

Lara said...

Thanks so much again Adrianne! I love them! You did an awesome job! I ❤️ My quilty friends! X

Erica said...

I am so glad I am not the only one who was bothered by those Aurifil photos! I couldn't believe it when I saw them.