If you have followed this blog for any length of time, you know that it has been my desire to improve my machine quilting skills. I have been practicing my squiggles and loop d' loops and stippling and my results have been well, pretty much just ok. Make no mistake, I am improving, but it is obvious that more practice will serve me well.
Recently I discovered the Pretty By Hand blog, where Kristyne has been teaching herself to be a Free Motion Quilter. She recently posted that she has officially given up doing cross hatch quilting, as she feels her skills have improved enough that she is proud of her free motion skills to make that her preferred method.
I figured that if I wanted to teach myself to machine quilt, I was going to follow Kristyne's example and start out with doing cross hatching by machine. The free motion stuff can come after I master that technique. After searching for a half an hour for my painter's tape, I got started. I placed the tape diagonally across the quilt, right through the middle and sewed my first line of stitching right along side the right hand edge of the tape.
Then I repositioned the tape to the right after each subsequent line of stitching, working my way from the middle to the right hand corner. Once I got to the corner, I flipped the quilt top around and stitched the other half.
My stitching lines were just as straight as could be!
When the top was completely stitched with lines running in one direction, I repeated the process so that my stitching lines went the opposite direction, creating a cross hatch design across the entire top of the quilt.
I know this isn't the most creative process, but I was so pleased with my perfectly even one inch grid of quilting! The quilting is dense and the top will wash up beautifully and be all quilty and puckery. It is my plan to do a few more small quilts with this cross hatch technique, then branch out with more free motion patterns. I just need to get my skill level and my confidence level up. In the meantime, I am 100% happy with this method.
This little Bennington Schnibble (from the book Schnibbles Times Two by Carrie Nelson) will go on my round kitchen table, but for now I have it over the back of one of our leather chairs. Have you noticed that in the summer when you are wearing sleeveless or low backed clothes, sitting against the back of a leather chair is sticky uncomfortable? What a perfect use for a small quilt! It looks adorable and no more leaning up against hot old leather with your bare skin.
OMG ... what a great idea with the blue tape!! Thanks for sharing!!
-Jeremy
Posted by: Jeremy | August 30, 2011 at 05:18 AM
Great job Nicole! And might I add that I found the book "Foolproof Machine Quilting" by Mary Mashuta to be an excellent resource for machine quilting with your walking foot. Mary's book gave me confidence to start machine quilting my quilts doing things other then loop d'loops. I also recommend any of Patsy Thompson's DVD's. I love quilting my own quilts, and these gals have given me the visual helps that are making it possible ;-)
Posted by: Jocelyn | August 30, 2011 at 05:19 AM
I think you did a great job, too.
I love coming here because as a beginning quilter, I'm learning so much!
Keep the tips and techniques coming, and all your wonderful quilt pictures! :)
Posted by: Denise Downey | August 30, 2011 at 05:28 AM
Looks great!
Congratulations
Posted by: Glenn | August 30, 2011 at 05:33 AM
Thanks, Nicole! I am so encouraged when I find that even the experts, like you, have struggles with FMQ. I am going to use your method first on my own Schnibbles Bennington small quilt, then on Open Season. Maybe in a year or two I will be brave enough to try the loop d' loops!
Posted by: Marge | August 30, 2011 at 05:36 AM
Okay, so now I know why some of my friends have blue painters tape in their sewing rooms...never thought to ask. I actually have a bag pattern that I need to do this to the fabric before making the tote - I have been dreading drawing the lines on the fabric...now I can do this easily - thanks, Nicole for sharing this great technique!
Your schnibble looks wonderful! On the chair and I am sure on the table later.
Have a great day - boy you must wake up really early! It is before 9 here my time and you posted awhile ago!
Posted by: Sherry | August 30, 2011 at 05:54 AM
I have done cross hatching, and find it easier than free motion quilting. My shoulders suffer so much when I try machine quilting. Good for you for staying with it. They say practice, practice, practice --I say send the big stuff out and let my long armer practice. LoL Judy C in NC
Posted by: JudyCnNC | August 30, 2011 at 06:00 AM
Good job Nicole! I have finally gotten more comfortable with my free motion machine quilting skills over the last couple of years, but I still grid quilt a lot of quilts because many times those straight lines are just what the quilt needs.
Love that quilt and congrats on the finish!
Posted by: Laura | August 30, 2011 at 06:06 AM
I love the look of cross-hatching. It is timeless, and, as with Baptist Fans, looks great on any traditional quilt. You might want to experiment with different threads and the looks they give. I love doing cross-hatch with Bottom Line (Superior thread) as it seems to sink into the quilt so that the crinkle of the fabric shows more than the stitches. Congratulations on your new skill!
Posted by: Becky in KCMO | August 30, 2011 at 07:05 AM
Yay Nicole, fabulous job! Cross-hatching served me very well for some 20 odd years because it's easy, quick, adjustable and I rarely came across a quilt design that didn't look good cross-hatched. To me, it's a classic. I mean, why else did Coco Chanel have her signature purse quilted with it?! ;)
Turn it 45 degrees and you have a very modern-looking finish too.
But yes, I have grown sooo tired of being LIMITED to cross-hatching (I've referred to myself as a 1" grid whore for many years ... haha).
Best of luck on your journey. I'm cheering you on!
Posted by: Kristyne | August 30, 2011 at 07:15 AM
Cross-hatching is one of the oldest quilting designs in the world, so you are right up there with the originators, lol! I love cross-hatching for lots of reasons, even though it can be time consuming on a large project--it looks just right for your little quilt. Congrats on fording that quilt-it-yourself stream :)
Posted by: AnnieO | August 30, 2011 at 07:42 AM
Applause, applause!! Well done on your cross-hatch quilting design!!
Yep! We're back on the grid, with power restored about 4am today and the washing machine is working on the 2nd load. Cheers that we were without power for less than 72 hours from Hurricane Irene - but we did have a generator to help the fans and refrigerator. When Hurricane Isabel came thru in 2003, we had no generator and were without electricity for 9 days. No fun.
Hugs!
Posted by: Barbara Anne | August 30, 2011 at 07:55 AM
Nicole, Thanks for mentioning the painter's tape. I will be doing some crosshatch soon and had not thought of using the painters tape. I even have some.
Posted by: Paula Zumaris | August 30, 2011 at 08:45 AM
I love the look of straight line quilting. a small Irish Chain is a great top to practice quilting one, x hatch the patchwork and then you only have the small open spaces to free motion, instead of the whole top.
Posted by: Sharon | August 30, 2011 at 08:59 AM
Nice quilting! I too have been working on my machine quilting skills and seem to be my own worst critic. Relax and enjoy the process. It will improve. You are off to a great start. :-)
Posted by: Kay Hobby | August 30, 2011 at 09:40 AM
Nicole . . . I love it !! . . .
thanks for the painters tape idea . . . I just finished making doll bed quilts for my grand-daughters and was trying to decide if I wanted to quilt them myself . . . this settles it for me . . . I am going to try it !!
can you tell me what setting you use for your stitch length ? . . . and do you always use 1" tape ?? . . . thanks . . .
Posted by: Cheryl | August 30, 2011 at 09:51 AM
You did a great job!
FYI -- I was a terrible free motion quilter when I started. I thought I'm never going to be able to do this, but I kept getting better after reading tips from various blogs and eventually it all started to click.
I found the tips Oh Fransson's site to be the best for me. http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransson/2009/03/quilt-along-14-freemotion-quilting.html
In addition to her tips I also lower the machine speed a couple of notches. But that's a personal preference.
And... I love to practice on doll quilts. I have to be doing a project to do my best work. Just practicing on pieces of sandwiched fabric doesn't cut it for me -- I'll give up too easily or mess up and figure - forget it then in trash it goes. LOL. But a doll quilt with something I can give to a little girl.. I'll take my time and really try.
Good luck... thanks for the tip on the tape. I'll have to try that one for sure.
Posted by: Lucy | August 30, 2011 at 10:10 AM
Yay! Great job!! I am so intimidated by free motion quilting and so afraid of ruining a top but really really want to learn to get good at it... I found her site, too, and got so excited when I saw her cross hatching - I thought the same thing you did!! I have painter's tape on my list so I can get started. Thanks for showing me how you did it! I love how it looks and can't wait to try it! Love reading your blog and congrats on your new grandbaby she is precious! And Ozzie is so cute, too! I am enjoying watching your Farmer's wife blocks come to life. I have just started paper piecing and am waiting on my Marti Michel template info to come in! Thanks for all the great inspiration! Bari
Posted by: Bari Jo | August 30, 2011 at 10:31 AM
I love the cross hatching; it looks wonderfully neat! Thanks for the link; September is my month to begin machine quilting in earnest. I have done only straight lines up to this point, and it is time to move forward!
Posted by: Julie in WA | August 30, 2011 at 11:01 AM
Your grid quilting looks great. What a good idea to use the painter's tape.
Posted by: Lisa D. | August 30, 2011 at 11:17 AM
Your Bennington came out so cute!!! I am totally rethinking my charm pack stash plans.
Posted by: Wendy P | August 30, 2011 at 11:45 AM
I agree that using painter's tape is a great idea. My LQS owner suggested that to me about a year ago for some of my small (christmas gifts) projects and it sure did the trick! The Schnibbles Bennington for fall looks terrific.
Posted by: sillysally | August 30, 2011 at 12:06 PM
Hi Nicole
What a lovely result. Although I can free motion quilt I still love simple cross hatching.Did you see the old quilt blocks I bought?http://razzledazzlequilter.blogspot.com/2011/08/rescued-from-trade-me.html
I think crosshatching is going to be just perfect for these. Lots of stopping and starting to get past the applique but I am sure it's the right thing to do. I used to teach machine quilting. I always encouraged learners to do a good part of their quilting with the walking foot as it builds confidence.
Sorry - bit long.
Cheers
Linda
Taupo NZ
Posted by: Linda Bishop | August 30, 2011 at 12:49 PM
Hey, I like the way you used the tape! I use cross hatching on small baby quilts because I like the look. However, I've been marking mine with water washable markers or with a Hera marker. I like your method better! Easier to see. ;0
Posted by: ina | August 30, 2011 at 01:06 PM
Just in time! I had some straight lines to sew on a pink & cream Lily & Will fabric diaper bag today. Painters tape did the trick!! Thanks for a great tip! Your Schnibble looks great all quilted! Congrats!
Posted by: Jan | August 30, 2011 at 01:39 PM