Batting tips and a day out

The Walkway over the Hudson is one of my favorite places. Especially when I get to share it with dear friends. This area of the Hudson Valley is simply gorgeous and we’re getting closer to my favorite season – autumn. Oh how I love walking across here in the autumn. The ever changing colors get me all giddy and creative.

We started this day the Montgomery Place farm stand getting our fave apples, Pink Pearl, grapes, corn on the cob and a few other things. Then over to the wine & food fest. We left early this year. The bonus the Walkway over the Hudson.

Onto Hudson’s Ribs and Fish. The popovers! Oh! MY! A quick ride south and onto the Blue Pig for ice cream. We ate in silence enjoying every single mouthful of this delicacy. There is something beautiful about well made food.

One of those FAQ’s that’ll make it to the Tutorials and Helpful Hints page “why do you use two layers of batting in your quilt and what do you use?”

I use two layers of batting in competition quilts, The layers help ensure that the stitches will lock in the batting rather than trying to sit on top or on the back of the quilt. It’s not 100% because stuff happens: eyelashes (speeding); icky tension (pokies top or back).

The back/bottom layer is all about the structure, it’s there to help keep the quilt square. Low loft is my preference. If I’m using cotton batting I’m not using metallic thread – this is a personal choice. Cotton by it’s nature is a bit “grabby”. I’ve had the experience of the metallic being pulled to the back of the quilt. Uh, this is not where it belongs. Unless, of course, I’m using metallic in the bobbin, then it’s a whole other story.
Wool is one of my faves for structure and bonus: it has no memory. So when a quilt gets folded, boxed and sent off on it’s journey I can be sure that after a bit of time any folds will ease out over time and the quilt will hang well.

For the top I like wool or silk – the stitch definition with both of these is fantastic. Silk has a bit less loft than wool and shows of fine threads very well. Wool has a bit more loft giving great texture to areas left unquilted for any reason, i.e. fake trapunto.

I used silk batting in this piece to really define the stitches. You can see some loft, wool will be a bit puffier.

When I quilted Feather Zone I used wool. The unquilted areas have a bit more loft.

What I’ll do after the first of the year is a stitch out on low loft cotton, mid-loft cotton, wool and silk for clear stitch definition.

Happy Quilting!

Teri