Finished the hand guided machine quilting of the commission piece for CMC Mercy Hospital today. That is always a day to celebrate.This first photograph shows the echo quilting around stems and a leaf. It is reminiscent of the echo quilting used by traditional Hawaiian quilters. Only their quilting is done by hand and a line of quilting is stitched one finger width apart from the previous line.
I like the texture and rhythms that are set up by the machine quilting and I like to make my quilt lines about 1/8 to a 1/4 inch apart from each other.
The next photo is of the berry and some of the background quilting. The quilting also adds a level of detail to the piece without introducing more complexity to the design.
The final photograph is of the back of the piece and shows the berry and some leaves from the back. The quilting shows up well on this plain fabric. I pull each thread to the back of the quilt and tie it off with a double knot.
As I was knotting and cutting the threads, I thought of surgeons who have been the most usual sewers among men. I wondered, with the staples that are now used, are the surgeons still sewing sutures as a part of surgery?
Next comes the hand stitching. That is one of my favorite parts of the process. It is like the icing on the cake.
Nancy
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