I have a favourite baby quilt pattern. I have only made it once and was thrilled with the outcome.
Remember this?
It is called Watching the Caterpillar and it was created by Eye of the Needle. It is no longer available. This is going to become my "go to" quilt to make for new babies. I love it!!!! It was time to pull the pattern out again last week and get ready to make it up once again. I remembered I had taken photos of each block that I made ~~ close ups so I could see the machine quilting I did. I am so glad I did.
** TIP.....I have now printed off all the photos I took of this quilt and I have tucked them into their own envelope inside the pattern. Now it will be readily available for all the quilts I make.**
I didn't quite make the pattern................surprise, surprise! It calls for a thousand little scrap blocks for one of the borders, but I find that distracting so I just made up the borders on quilt number one as I went along. This time I actually went into EQ and printed off the cutting instructions. This quilt will be slightly different than the first one. (I'll post a photo of the actual quilt once it is done.)
The real reason for today's posting is to tell you about the thread I purchased for the blanket stitch around the animals. I emailed Anita of Cotton Mill Threadworks about a week ago and told her I needed three spools of thread (cones actually) and what I wanted them for. **TIP.....Always always give people heads up what you are going to do with their product. They have the knowledge and they know what is best for your needs.**
I needed a black and a neutral for regular stitching and I wanted a black for the blanket stitch. This time I wanted the stitch to be seen, not to fade away once its on the animals. I drove over to Anita's on Friday afternoon and had another "thread class". I learn something new every time I go. Anita suggested one of the NEW BRYTES, by Superior Threads in black. Wow, do I love this thread.
My blanket stitch looks amazing. I used a 4 length and a 3.5 width for the large areas of the animals,
however, for the smaller areas I made the width only 2.5, same length though.
You don't use a bobbin thread, you use a thread about the same weight ( #30) in the bobbin. You could actually put the black thread off the spool onto the bobbin, but I used a regular thread I had on hand. No one is going to see the inside of the quilt and I didn't want to use up my thread.
This time while making up the quilt I'm keeping notes all the way through. I have every intention to make this quilt again and again and its much quicker to have the information on hand than to start designing the quilt every time I make it.
Once the notes are all compiled I'll put them in the envelope with the pattern and the photos. I will be taking photos once again of this quilt to have them on hand for comparison.
**TIP......This was taught to me when I took a machine quilting course a couple of years ago. Remember this little dittie next time you are purchasing thread......
Forty is fine
Thirty is thick
The lower the number on the spool the thicker/heavier the thread.**
