Photos from the Week

Since starting my Instagram account a few weeks ago, I’ve suddenly found a million excuses to shoot and share photos I probably would never have shared before. Here’s a bit of the news from this week:

free motion quilting | Leah Day
Quilter’s Dream Blend quilted with Sharp Stippling

I’m still stitching out batting samples to see exactly how certain batts react after being washed. Before market I’d finished quilting a whole stack of samples, only to realize I needed to stitch more because I hadn’t prewashed the fabric.

Yes, yes, I ALWAYS prewash, but in this one tiny situation with my Spoonflower fabric, I didn’t have time and the pieces were so small that I skipped that step and boy do I regret it! Not only are all my batting tests results a bit skewed by the shrink of the fabric, I also accidently added detergent to the samples I washed, and the fabric faded considerably.

free motion quilting | Leah Day

Lesson learned – no detergent when washing Spoonflower fabric!

Note: According to the Spoonflower website, you can use detergent, but it needs to be chlorine free – good luck finding that!

So prewashing fabric can REALLY make a big deal for your quilt’s finished results. So to see how this batting acts with prewashed fabric I’ve been quilting more samples with many different designs.

free motion quilting | Leah Day

Flowing Leaves was the perfect choice to quilt over Quilter’s Dream Green! Quilting it this big was a bit of a challenge though because they’re bigger than my hands!

free motion quilting | Leah Day

This is Quilter’s Dream Deluxe. I couldn’t decide on a design until I remembered – when it doubt, quilt feathers!

I’ve also been inspired by the landscape we saw coming down the mountains in West Virgina on Monday. Maybe we should have a landscape quilt along next year?!

I’m off to relax on the hammock on this bright spring afternoon. Maybe some hand applique will join me, or maybe someone else!

free motion quilting | Leah Day

Let’s go quilt,

Leah

LeahDay

Leah Day has been teaching online since 2009. She's the creator of the Free Motion Quilting Project, a blog filled with thousands of quilting tutorial videos. Leah has written several books including 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs, Explore Walking Foot Quilting with Leah Day, and Mally the Maker and the Queen in the Quilt.

4 Responses

  1. Congrats on your dad joining the business. I definitely think he should learn to quilt.

  2. kgrammiecaz says:

    Yes great news about your dad being close by. Also, good washing info about spoonflower fabric. I also want to say there are many of us who donot prewash so having the information on the battings for non prewashed fabric is good information. I want to use a batting that will stay puffy even after washing with fresh fabric. Thank Leah for all you do!

  3. good to know about that fading Julie….thank you

  4. That's wonderful news about your Dad moving closer! Enjoy it, and the growth of your business. I'm such a fan Leah. You are always such a great inspiration to me.

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