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 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!