Yesterday was ‘Friday Night with Friends’ link up night at Gone Stitching, I rather like the idea of linking up with other sewers around the world, all sewing and creating at the same time and then swopping ideas. I finally managed to complete my 100 hugs quilt last night!

I started making the quilt in October for a friend due in January, I don’t know if it’s a boy or girl so decided on using Moda Storytime as it’s green, yellow, taupe and peach, in other words it’s not too pink!! I found the inspiration and instructions on Wedding Dress Blue, I love the name “100 hugs”, it’s so apt for a baby quilt.

The top went together fairly easily, although I did find I wasn’t very good at stitching across a diagonal, some of the triangles left a bit to be desired!!

I was then a bit daunted with the prospect of quilting it, I knew I didn’t have time to quilt it by hand, nor the resources to pay someone to long-arm quilt it. After a long discussion with one of our WI ladies I decided to pluck up the courage and machine quilt it, something I’ve never tried before. I decide to do a freehand design rather than stitching ‘in the ditch’ I may be wrong in my thought process here but I felt if I went wobbly with ‘in the ditch’ it would be a lot more obvious than freehand quilting, another factor was that I have the necessary embroidery foot, but not a walking foot for my Janome

I basted the top, wadding and backing fabric together, I found a quilting design of  hearts and circles which I thought it was rather apt!

I had issues with the air erasable pen again…I cut out the heart shape and then drew the design on the quilt, only to find it was disappearing a lot quicker than I could sew it!! I noticed the ink on white areas stayed so I decided to quilt from the back which was white.

Tips from a newbie to other newbies,  test the lasting qualities of your pen first! consider quilting from the back if doing a free hand design, there’s no seams to put you off but baste your outer edges clearly, always stop with your needle down so the quilt doesn’t move and ensure the quilt is well supported, wear gloves to grip the fabric, I would never have appreciated this before I tried it, but my shoulders killed by the end of the quilting session from the strain of holding the fabric correctly.

I’m pleased with my first attempt at machine quilting, it’s not perfect by a long stretch, there’s a lot of wobbly hearts and lines, but it’s acceptable enough to think I may have a go quilting a single bed top that’s just waiting  to be quilted!

Just got to wait for baby to arrive so I can post it off 🙂