I have always admired this kind of quilting, but when it was time to actually put stitches on a quilt, I always chickened out. That is, until last week. I decided to try my hand at graffiti quilting on this preemie quilt for our local children's hospital, made from some of the larger chunks in my scrap jars. Before I get into the details, just FYI- this was done on my regular domestic machine, a BERNINA 550QE.
This little quilt only measures 36" square, but it took me four hours to quilt! By comparison, my speedy self can (fairly densely) stipple an entire twin size quilt in that amount of time, so this was quite an undertaking to say the least.
Since this was my first attempt at this kind of quilting, the thread, background, and backing fabrics were specifically chosen to mask any quilting imperfections. I opted for a tonal white fabric with little scrolls rather than my usual Kona White in the background. On the back, I chose this black and white crosshatch, and I quilted it with my favorite 50 wt. Aurifil White thread.
Mission accomplished! I'm pretty proud of the stitching, but it is by no means perfect. Luckily, the thread, backing and background fabrics did their camouflage jobs and you really have to look hard to find the couple of crossovers in the quilt.
I tried to photograph the quilting in several lights to best show the stitching, and I actually think the first pic shows the stitches in contrast the best, even if it isn't the best photo of the colors in the quilt. The photo below shows the colors best.
Though this quilt was not fast, I have to say that it really was a lot of fun. It is something that I will definitely be doing again; next time on a quilt I'll get to keep.
I do have a question for all of you quilty peeps about this kind of quilting though. Where else do you use it? Allover on a simple quilt (like this one)? Only on quilts with lots of negative space? Anyplace else? I'm thinking that this would be too busy for many quilts, but I welcome your thoughts!
