Stumbling through the town and the batting debate...

I have finally moved past just outline quilting the applique shapes of my "All Around the Town" quilt (Sue Garmon).  The outlining is pleasant because it requires no marking and very little thought.  That kind of mindless quilting was perfect while I was sick recently.

This weekend I started adding texture and personality to the actual applique shapes.  The outline quilting makes the shapes a little puffy (which I'm not crazy about), even though I use a minimal loft cotton batt.  I add quilting to tame that effect (and it also further anchors the applique pieces).  I like to hide little quilting motifs that reflect my personality (see the peace sign on the brick building?  it's a subtle message...).

I love trees and nature, so I decided to reflect that by filling the trees with hearts.

It's also fun to let the fabric tell me how to quilt something.

When I use architectural fabrics on buildings, I challenge myself to quilt them with little filler motifs that "match," like these roofing fabrics.

 I am also adding fill to the large grassy lawns of each house.

Some of the little features get a few quilting details.

I decided to quilt the borders before quilting the sky.  I guess I'm saving the sky for last because I think that will really make things "pop" (kind of like saving the outlining for last when doing counted cross-stitch).  It doesn't snow up very well on the border fabric I used, and I'm a poor photographer (which doesn't help).

I'm a little disappointed in my batting choice.  I like to make as small of stitches as possible when I quilt, especially when I am trying to add tiny detail to tiny pieces.  But it is a trade off.  The greater the batting loft, the better the stitches are displayed, but with greater loft it is harder and slower to make tiny stitches.

I found this to be a problem with my Civil War Bride as well.  On that quilt, I chose a light brown quilting thread which compounded the problem.  With minimal loft and matching quilting thread, it is hard to see the stitches.  My "ta-da!" moment was lessened because I spent all that time doing a lot of pretty good quilting, and it wasn't even visible.  Major bummer!  The border has double piano key quilting behind all the applique and it doesn't even show up!

There's a better picture of one of the quilted corners here on the Civil War Bride Blog where the quilting shows up pretty well.  Susi of Susi's Quilts used a loftier batting on her finished Bride quilt, and her beautiful quilting is shown at a good advantage, as seen here, also on the Civil War Bride Blog.

The low loft of the cotton batting doesn't quilt with enough dimensional contrast...there's no shadow, not enough cool 3-D effect.  When I look at the pictures, I even doubt that it is hand quilted, and I quilted it!  All that work and effort on hand applique and hand quilting, and I blew it on my batting choice!  When it was hanging in a show last year, I overheard someone comment, "it's not even quilted..."  I died right then and there...

That is one reason I decided to use natural colored quilting thread on this quilt which has so many dark fabrics.  I used a low loft batt again, but wanted to stitches to be seen.  I'm still not happy.  When I made "Home Sweet Home," I used an heirloom wool batt.

It was a little harder to make tiny stitches, but I managed to do it.  It had enough loft for my quilting to really stand out.  It also has a beautiful drape.

The wool was a little more expensive, but I think I've finally learned my lesson.

If you are a hand quilter, is there a particular batt you like to use?!?

Thank you for all your input on Block of the Month programs (see my last post if you would like to wade in and post an opinion).  As this post is SO-O-O long, I will talk about that next time.

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)