Kantha Stitching

Kantha is a type of stitching that I first saw on the blog, Spirit Cloth written by Jude Hill. I've attempted it myself on a couple of my small art quilts. Rage and Black Cat both have my variation of kantha stitching on them. I had wanted to use kantha for Thou Shall Not Steal Pecans, but I had trouble with the batting bearding through to the front of the quilt. I used Mountain Mist 100% cotton batting in that quilt, which is a perfectly wonderful batting to hand quilt with traditional quilting thread. I apparently needed a batting with a scrim for kantha stitching on that particular fabric because it was a little more loosely woven than what I normally use. That's why I think the Warm and Natural batting will work for kantha and that wonderful hand dyed fabric by Marcia Derse. It has a thin scrim. I'm excited to think of the possibilities! I will let you know how it goes as soon as I know.

Kari, thank you for the kantha link.

Art Every Day Month -- Day 14

Frustration. Every stitch I take on "Thou shalt NOT steal pecans!" brings batting through to the top of the quilt. Every single stitch. Both on the back and the front actually. I've spent more time separating the fabric from the batting so that the batting around the thread will go back between the fabrics than I ever thought possible and I'm only on the first block. This is no fun whatsoever. I'm going to have to change the way I'm quilting this quilt. Kantha stitching will not work for it. I think it's because the top fabrics are fairly loosely woven, which I had not considered a problem. It is though. It's a huge problem.

Of course, I don't have the quilting thread here at the house in the color I need. I ordered lots of thread yesterday, but I'm sure it won't be here until at least Monday. So, now I need to figure out something else to work on. Crap.

Art Every Day Month -- Day 12

Today's art has been, what I consider, grunt work. I finished basting the two new art quilts. Then I picked out the embroidery floss that I'll quilt the "Thou shalt NOT steal pecans!" quilt with. I was lucky to have colors very similar to the fabrics, so that the kantha stitching will blend in and highlight the fabrics instead of taking away from the words written on it. Just what I planned on this one. Next I finished ripping out the hand quilting on Stormy Weather. After taking out the basting, it was a breeze. Wish I had started the ripping in that manner.

I've decided to try to machine quilt Stormy Weather. Since I'm too tired and head-achy to attempt machine quilting tonight, which I'm not very good at in the first place, I won't do that right now.

I want to hand quilt Happy (the orange and blue quilt) but I don't have the color thread on hand that I want to use. So, that one is out until I can get to a quilt shop or order some thread by mail.

That leaves the pecan quilt. I think I'll pull out some of the floss and get to work on it. I love kantha stitching. It's relaxing and fun. I'll show you the progress tomorrow.

Art Every Day Month -- Day 11

I have finished the embroidery on "Thou Shalt NOT Steal Pecans!". Next I'll layer it with batting and baste it so that I can start the kantha stitching on it. I think kantha will be much more fun than traditional hand quilting. Kantha is a type of stitching that I first saw on Spirit Cloth a wonderful blog by Jude Hill. If you have time, check out her blog. She's very creative and inspirational.

Now, I'm going to go dig through my hand dyed fabrics to see what I have for backing this little quilt and the last one I made from Marcia Derse's fabrics. I can't wait to continue on them and even to start another one. I'm having a blast with this type of art quilt. This one may end up in the guild auction for Quilt Celebration 2010!

One thing I really like about this quilt is that I used my natural (sloppy) handwriting for wording. If I end up keeping this one, or one I make like this in the future, it will be great to have it in my own hand to pass down to my grandchildren. See, more and more fun every time I think of it!