I finished quilting my Busy Hands quilt this weekend. I feel like it was quite an accomplishment because I quilted the heck out of it! This quilt is my first official “Modern Quilt” and I have to say, I enjoyed it immensely.
(My poor little chevron blocks are just piled up in the corner, patiently waiting their turn on the design wall so they can get turned into my next modern quilt.)
I tend to be a little more “organized” with my piecing rather than embracing the “wonkiness” that is also a hallmark of this quilt genre. But I love modern quilts because of their bright, clear colors, bold geometric shapes and clean lines, with lots of negative space for machine quilting.
My favorite part about this quilt is all of the different free-motion designs that I tried. I originally was going to stick to one background fill but after quilting a few blocks I got bored very quickly.
One of the things I love about modern quilting is that there are no hard and fast rules, so I was free to switch up the designs whenever I felt like it. I can’t tell you how liberating that was! I didn’t plan them ahead of time but quilted them serendipitously. I counted a total of 53 different quilting designs when all was said and done!
I still have to soak the quilt to remove all of the blue lines around the hands, then block it and bind it. I’m really toying around with the idea of trying to enter it at QuiltCon if I can complete these final steps in time. It’s a juried show and they are accepting entries through November 30th. I’ve never entered a quilt in a “big show” before so I don’t even know if it would get in, but what the heck – I might as well try. It can’t hurt, right??
Christa Quilts 
Love the quilt! You should definitely enter the quilt show. All the different quilting designs in the blocks makes it very interesting. Took a lot of work. Sounds like you enjoyed doing it, which is important.
Thank you all for such kind comments 🙂 It’s really given me lots of encouragement!
I think you should definitely send this out to a show, wow! What a beauty of a quilt, you worked very hard on it and it shows. I love the hands and the way they flow around the quilt.
Very nice job and well done. I love it and all the detail. You shoulld be proud of yourself.
This has been quite a journey! So nice to see it done and you did a wonderful job.
Wonderful, I really love this quilt and the quilting is stunning. Go for Quilt Show.
Great quilt…………hope you win at QuiltCon!!
The quilt looks amazing! I love all the little hands and that you have done lots of different FMQ designs. It is so easy to get bored with just one! Definitely enter it into QuiltCon. You never know what will happen…
Look at all the free motion designs! Lovely work! Those little hands are adorable!
Look’s great Christa! I finished quilting my Sunflower quilt too. Yay for finishing! Maybe I’ll take some pics later and post them.
Stacy http://www.farmroadquilts.com http://www.farmroadquilts.blogspot.com http://www.stores.ebay.com/Farm-Road-Quilts
Hi!!! I would definitely say GO FOR IT!!! I t is a beautiful quilt!!! All that quilting is amazing and I love the little hands!!!!
I’d say “go for it” with the quilt show. I was pleasantly surprised when I faced my fears and got into a regional juried show a couple of years ago. We’re our own worst critics, and I think that quilt is certainly nice enough and INTERESTING enough to make it into that show. Good luck!
I remember when you started this quilt. It turned out wonderful. Great job!
Love how it turned out. The hands are superb!
Looks great! With all that quilting is it still soft and cuddly?
It’s a little stiff right now but should soften up a little with washing.
Looks great!