Stitch Upon Stitch.

I walked into this yesterday - 

The sound of machines whirring and the lovely timbre of several folks laughing.

SO much balm for my soul!  

When so much is out of our control in this world and the news is full of things like plane crashes in Russia and conspiracies of Putin knocking out someone who betrayed him, fires and the loss of so many people in Maui (unfathomable grief) and other things that bombard us daily - it's wonderful to know that there is quilting to turn to, and friendships that cross so many of the other dividing lines drawn in the sand.

For one week - these folks can put all differences aside and just quilt, and I am happy to be included in their midst!

Especially when I walk in and read this sign! LOL!

There is a whole lot of concentration happening here!

Karen has turned her bright and scrappy Triple Treat blocks into two tops to be donated to benefit kids.

Such a feel good!

More kid-sized quilts from a brand new quilter happening here -

And a long time Tumblers Leader & Ender being worked on by her table mate.

Oh scrappy string block love!

Across the room, there are more being made for Shattered! 

Bitcoin in purples, reds and rusty oranges! Gorgons!

Close up of the beautiful batiks.

So much fun!

Do you know what a Kantha quilt is?

Kantha is a centuries-old tradition of stitching patchwork cloth from rags, which evolved from the thrift of rural women in the Bengali region of the sub-continent - today the eastern Indian states of West Bengal and Orissa, and Bangladesh. One of the oldest forms of embroidery originating from India, its origins can be traced back to the pre-Vedic age (prior to 1500 BCE). 

Kantha refers to the type of stitch used in the craft of embroidery. This kantha stitch gives the coverlets their general wavy, textured quality. In rural India kantha coverlets are offered to guests in homes as a seat, a place to rest their tea, or simply as an expression of welcome into the home.

While this newly made "Kantha" was made with new batik fabrics and has meaningful embroidered messages, Kanthas are generally made from recycled saris or older fabrics and stitched by hand.

The fabric is then stitched together with colorful thread (no batting inside) to create these beautiful, softly layered cotton throws. The “kantha” stitch is applied row after row and gives the fabric its unique wrinkled effect. 

This kind of embroidery is most popular with rural women of India who spend hour upon hour creating these wonderful, one-of-a-kind pieces.

Inspired by traditional Kanthas - this beauty is hand stitched with pearl cotton threads in freehand parallel lines.

I love the texture!

We also talked about the centering that comes from repetitive hand stitching.  It's a meditation of sorts.

This is truly lovely!

I wanted to know more - so I quickly fell down the rabbit hole by searching for videos on YouTube.  What a fantastic history -

And I love how fabric lovers from all walks of life and all communities find a way to stitch together the saved bits of worn out clothing to make something useful and beautiful.

Next door at the QPO - this was accomplished.

My Silk Path top is together!

I have trimmed the edges leaving 1/4'' seam allowance all around the outside edge.

Yes, that means it's bias. But no worries.

I took a victory lap around the outside edge with stay-stitching.

I do this with the back side if the quilt top facing up so I can manage which way the seams go as I am stitching over them.

This adds some stability to the bias, and will prevent any seams from popping open during the quilting process.

I've heard from some that they get ruffled edges when they machine stitch this way.  Loosen your tension a bit.  It was meant to be adjusted.  That's why it has an adjusting thing!

If I find that my stay stitching is too tight, I can simply clip the threads as I quilt the quilt allowing it to relax a bit.

Backing came easy!

I had yards of this gorgeous brown/rust just waiting for the right project.  I've even got some left over.

It must have been on one heck of a sale because I rarely buy 9 yards of one thing.  LOL!

So you know what today's job is? Let's get it loaded, choose a quilting design, and get this thing going.

And in between I'll be hanging around these peeps!

Hey! Who ate the cake from the middle out?

There has been such an incredible response to my new PDF pattern for Morning Glories and the Gift-Away entries are going wild!

Did you get your entry in? Visit the Gift-Away post.

The PDF pattern for Morning Glories is currently 25% off through 8/31/23 in both the Quiltville Store and the Quiltville Etsy Pattern Shop.

The finished quilt measures 84'' X 84''.

No coupon code is needed, but if you are purchasing paper or notions and wish to save the 15% you do need to use the code NOTIONS at checkout in the Quiltville Store.  The Etsy shop ONLY carries the PDF patterns, not merchandise.

I'll be drawing for TWO winners on Thursday, 8/31/23 and each will receive a Morning Glories PDF pattern from me and a Facets of Green color roll from Cotton to Quilts!

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Actions will always speak louder and be more memorable than words.

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Put those actions into action today!

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Scrappy Mountain Majesties quilt shared by Dot. Pattern found tinder the Free Patterns tab.

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Have you made one?

Happy Friday, Folks!