Colorways By Vicki Welsh
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Mini Mandala - My personal quilting class

6/9/2017

 
hand dyed fabric
Last month I showed you this mandala that I was marking to get it ready for quilting. As I was marking it I decided that I wanted to use some threads that I hadn't used on the longarm before and I felt like I needed to test them. I had a little fat quarter mandala that's been hanging around my sewing room for a while and decided that it could be my practice piece. It was in the same colors so I could test the threads.
hand dyed fabric
Mini Mandala - 17" square
Boy am I goad I did this! You can take all the classes in the world, like my awesome ruler class next weekend, but nothing beats loading a quilt and practicing. Over the past year I've pulled this out several times and started marking all over it in Crayola Washable Marker. I think I had 5 or 6 different ideas marked on it. It was kind of a mess but I left it and just started quilting and tried to ignore the marker.
hand dyed fabric
I marked the petal shapes in one design, quilted in another and hated both. Then I ripped out the stitches.
hand dyed fabric
Then I got smart and traced the shape on paper to work out a design that I liked. 
hand dyed fabric
To quilt the ring of red around the center I marked guidelines for every other stitched line.
hand dyed fabric
But that wasn't enough so I went back and added even more lines. They aren't perfect but from viewing distance they look just fine.
hand dyed fabric
This is after quilting and before washing. There's so much marker on it that when I soaked it the water turned dark purple....and it wasn't from the fabric bleeding!
hand dyed fabric
This photo shows off the quilting best and helps show some of the things I learned:
- the acrylic thread runs beautifully on the Innova so I can use it on the next quilt confidently
- but my color choices need some reconsideration. Those Spirograph shapes are really cool and you can't see them! I should have quilted those areas in dark grey or black.
- I love the effect of the white stitched ring behind the petals. The back stitching shows but not as bad as I expected.

But, you know what I really, really love?
hand dyed fabric
The back!! I hand stitched the binding just so I could display it from the front or back.
hand dyed fabric
There's one more lesson back here too.
When I did this I used the same thread top and bottom throughout to see how it behaves. I think that I should not use the acrylic thread in the bobbin. I'll use one of my "normal" threads.
I also learned that I wan't the quilt to show well on the back so I'll use a solid for the back of the next quilt and I can't wait to get it loaded and started.
Laceflower
6/9/2017 11:13:54 am

Holy mother of pearl that is some spectacular designing. This is why I visit you, to learn and appreciate.

Vicki link
6/9/2017 04:56:02 pm

Awww, thank you!

Gene Black
6/10/2017 07:56:05 am

It looks great. I suspect the reason the back looks so good is that you can see ALL of the quilting. I wonder if using threads that didn't match on the front would make it pop even more.

Judy H link
6/10/2017 08:18:41 am

Love watching the process on how you "create".

Kristin F
6/10/2017 12:13:08 pm

Beautiful quilting!

Mary Anne link
6/10/2017 10:22:19 pm

Making a quilt reversible is a great idea, especially if it's a wall hanging. Having the ability to flip it around and enjoy it all over again makes it interesting. Also was interesting to see/read your thought process AND be grateful that I was sitting down so I could deal with the heart palpitations over all that marker that I was terrified wouldn't wash out!


Comments are closed.

    About Vicki

    I'm Vicki Welsh and I've been making things as long as I can remember. I used to be a garment maker but transitioned to quilts about 20 years ago. Currently I'm into fabric dyeing, quilting, Zentangle, fabric postcards, fused glass and mosaic. I document my adventures here.

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Copyright © 2018 by Vicki Welsh. All rights reserved. Content from this site may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of Vicki Welsh. You are welcome to link and share links to any page on the site.
  • Welcome
  • Shop
    • Hand Dyed Fabric
    • Glass
    • Just Plain Soap
  • Blog
  • Galleries
    • Customer Gallery >
      • Project Submission Form
    • Quilt Gallery >
      • 2018 >
        • The Maine Quilt
        • Lost My Marbles
      • 2017 >
        • The Wedding Quilt Quilt
        • Rainbow's End Quilt
      • 2016 >
        • CSQ Challenge Quilt
        • Wholecloth Quilt of Valor
        • Luras Choice Quilt
        • Black Swan Quilt
        • 2016 Quilt of Valor Quilt
        • Non Unus Pluma Quilt
      • 2015 >
        • Snaps Quilt
        • Batik Crossroads Quilt
        • Wild Goose Chase Quilt
        • Fractured Fragments Quilt
        • Tell It To the Stars Quilt
        • Cathedral Window Quilt
        • Time In Place Quilt
        • Shaken Not Stirred Quilt
        • Pleiades Quilt
      • 2014 >
        • Spinning Stars Quilt
        • Fractured Spiral Quilt
        • Autumn Leaves Quilt
        • Sea Dreams Quilt
        • Woodland Star Quilt
        • Zombie Ball Quilt
        • Innova Angles Quilt
      • 2013 >
        • Murder For a Jar of Red Rum Quilt
        • Patroitic Quilts
        • Red Sunset Bedding Quilt
        • The Infamous Fish Quilt
        • Gratitudes Quilt
      • 2012 >
        • Illuminated Blocks Quilt
        • Kims Wedding Quilt
        • Crossing The South Anna Quilt
        • Coming Home Quilt
        • See Reverse Quilt
        • Overboard Quilt
        • Floras Fans and Modern Crumbs Quilt
        • The Patriot Quilt
        • On Point Quilt
        • Grinch Quilts
      • 2011 >
        • Star Struck Quilt
        • On A Whim Quilt
        • Catena Quilt
        • Zig Zag Scraps Quilt
        • Purple Keepsakes Quilt
        • Fiberactions Challenge Quilts
        • Journal Quilts 2011
      • 2010 >
        • Maggie the Messmaker Cross Stitch
        • Fiberactions Challenge Quilts
        • Wootten Memory Quilts
        • Teal Tomorrow Quilt
      • 2009 >
        • Shereen's Peaceful Garden
        • TShirt Quilt Commission
        • Three Generation Quilt
      • 2008 >
        • Flora's Quilts
        • Monkey Baby Quilts
        • Citrus Quilt
      • 2007 >
        • Snails Trail Quilts
        • Quilts of Valor
        • Other Quilts
      • 2006 and older >
        • Scrap Bin Quilt
        • Flora's Dutchman's Breeches
        • The Gift Quilts
        • Reversible Quilts
        • Spectacular Scraps Quilts
        • Foundation Pieced Quilts
        • Art Quilts
        • Kathy's Memorial Quilt
    • Symmetry Quilt Gallery
    • Dyeing Gallery >
      • Tie Dye Gallery
      • Shibori Gallery
    • Postcard Gallery
    • Fused Glass Gallery
    • Mosaic Gallery
    • Zentangle
  • Tutorials
    • Save My Bleeding Quilt
    • Postcard Tutorials >
      • Silver Christmas Tree Postcard
      • Easy Framed Motif Postcard
      • Trash to treasure postcards
      • Holiday Ornament Postcard
      • Postcard as a Door Hanger
      • Plaid Tree Postcard Tutorial
      • Button Tree Postcard
      • Fireworks Postcard Tutorial
    • Quilting Tutorials >
      • The Gift Quilt Pattern
      • Keepsakes Quilt Pattern
      • Blocking a Quilt
      • Facing A Quilt Tutorial
      • Allegiance Quilt Pattern
      • Gratitudes Quilt Pattern
      • Rainbow Quilt Free Pattern
      • Binding a Quilt
    • Surface Design Tutorials >
      • Snow Dyeing basics tutorial
      • Snow Dyeing Mandala
      • Sun Printing Tutorial
      • Lamp Printing Tutorial
      • Dyeing extra large fabrics
      • Hold the Retayne
      • Painted Shower Curtain Tutorial
      • Metallic Paint Effects on Fabric
      • Curing Metallic Fabric Paints
      • Zentange Pens
      • Leaf Printing Tutorial
      • Printing On Fabric
      • Life of MX Dye Concentrates
      • Testing Soda Ash in fabric dyeing
    • Color Theory
    • Placemat Tutorials >
      • Rise and Shine Placemat Tutorial
      • Coming Home Placemat Tutorial
      • Mineral Pool Placemat Tutorial
      • Sugar Maple Placemats
      • Fat Quarter Placemat Tutorial
      • Merry Mats Placemat Tutorial
    • Basic Tutorials >
      • Custom Sewing Table
      • Liquid Spray Starch Recipe
    • Crafts and Small Projects >
      • Large Tote Tutorial
      • The best potholders pattern
      • Notebook Cover Tutorial
      • Pillowcase tutorial
      • Wide Brim Sun Visor
      • Trash To Treasure Holiday Ornaments
      • Pet Bed From Scraps Tutorial
      • Framed Metal Quilt
      • Shooting Shirt Tutorial
      • Making Paper
      • Making Soap
      • Favorite Soap Reicpes
      • Lotion Making
    • Longarm Quilting Tutorials >
      • The longarm machine does matter
      • Double Wavy Crosshatch
      • Wavy Crosshatch Longarm
      • Quilting Letters on a Quilt
      • Centering a Quilt back on a longarm
      • Quilting Snowball Blocks
      • Easy Longarm Piano Keys
      • Using Channel Locks
      • Sewing/Serging quilt backing to zippers
      • Adding backing on the longarm
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