I took my time last week to slowly, methodically, and safely (for my knees and back) mark lines on the Sequenced quilt top with my Hera marker.
Marking Quilting Lines
At 60″ x 80″, the Sequenced quilt takes up the entire floor space of my “living room” when I roll up the carpet. I layered the quilt top on top of the batting that I will use in the quilt and created several templates to help me mark the lines I want using my Hera marker. I glue basted the paper templates to a piece of cardboard and it worked. I would mark one set of curves and then cut the template to the next smaller line and repeat.
Marking Quilting Lines
Crawling around on the floor for that long isn’t good on my knees or my lower back, so I did hundreds of squats last week to mark all of these lines instead. After marking the quilt with one template, I found I needed to take a break. Being doubled up and pressing so hard in a tropical environment, I got hot and sweaty and my legs and ankles got tired.
Marked Quilting Lines
After 4 afternoons of slow but consistent work, I had the quilt top all marked. Whew!
Basted and Ready to Quilt
Honestly, after all the marking work, basting the quilt top the next afternoon was much faster. So, I’m all prepared to spend the week (or next several weeks) quilting. I think the quilting is going to be a lot more satisfying and fun than all that marking work!
I like how you show the marking of your quilt with the Hera marker. I have one but never used it. This give me a little push to get started using it. I like how the lines show up. Look forward to seeing the finished quilt.
Hi Yvonne, I can’t wait to see the quilting on this quilt when it’s done. I had to smile when you mentioned all the effort you put into marking this quilt. I so understand the back and knee pain part. Now you can say that you have put sweat into your quilts. I’ve said in the past that I’ve put blood, sweat and tears into my quilts over the years. This quilt is going to be beautiful.
WOW! My 71 yr. old knees, back, (and hips!) hurt just thinking about how you did that. The result will be worth it though!
I am curious about how well the Hera markings hold up during the quilting process. Do you have a long arm or do you squish it through the throat space of a domestic machine. Also do you find them easy to see and follow under normal lighting conditions?
Those are great questions. I quilt on a domestic machine. I have a Juki TL-2200 QVP Mini. And I have a video where I talk about my top tips for working with a Hera Marker (including lighting setup considerations).
Whew! Glad you got that done and can move on to the fun stuff!
I love that you can do this…such patience to mark the entire quilt! Not to mention the physical effort/toll. It will be wonderful to see this quilted, and I do imagine it will take some time. Hoping it is a zen-quilting experience! Good luck.
Chomping at the bit to try this. I don’t have a hera marker but a few times tried the back of a butter knife. It wasn’t very successful as I was very nervous that I’d inadvertently press too hard and cut the quilt top. Question: after marking the top do you separate it from the batting and make your quilt sandwich as usual or do you keep them together?
That is definitively a labor of love!