I'm still working on my first quilt, which has been in progress for oh, six months or so now. :) Unfortunately, work gets in the way of my hobbies. I had originally planned to machine quilt because I wanted to get the quilt finished before the last of this year's Fool's Gold romances came out, since I got the pattern on the Fool's Gold website.

I quilted one straight line the vertical length of the quilt and one horizontal... and I hated it. I hated having the quilt all bunched up in the machine, and trying to turn the quilt was a nightmare. Last night, I ripped out those two lines of thread, and now I'm ready to start hand-quilting.

My plan is to quilt inside the colored triangles with white thread. Then I would like to quilt a heart on each of the red-and-white nine-patch blocks. I'm also going to do hearts along the all-white border. In the second picture, if you look closely at the individual block, you can see the pink heart I drew on the nine-patch.

My question is... Is there any danger in using red thread on white fabric? When I wash it, I'll use a color catcher, but will it bleed anyway? There's no way to prewash the thread. :) (At least, not that I've heard of... and I can't imagine re-spooling it. LOL

I do a lot of redwork with red thread. I've used Retayne when it's completed - seems to work fine. No bleeding as yet!
Love your quilt.
Good luck, Karen

No advice on thread use
but, love your quilt

As long as you are using quilting thread or sewing thread and not embroidery floss I wouldn't worry about it.

Yes, it is quilting thread. Does that mean that it doesn't bleed? (...she asked hopefully)

Thank you! I'm anxious to get this one finished because I want to get started on the next one. This is a lap-size quilt. The next one is going to be for our king bed. The pattern is for a queen, so I need to figure out how to make it larger before I start.

Beautiful quilt! I can't advise you on the red thread, but want to ask if you prewashed the red fabric in the quilt? It looks like it might be a batik. The combination of red and batik is almost a recipe for disaster if you haven't prewashed. If you didn't, please be very careful and use retayne or you may end up with pink background instead of white!

Yes, I did prewash all the fabrics. The red is not batik, but even so, I felt like any red fabric next to that white would be a recipe for disaster. Maybe I should put two color catchers in there the first time I wash the whole thing!

Beautiful quilt! Post pics when completed!

Thank you! I will. I felt like such a rebel because the designer said in the quilt pattern that I should use gold for the nine-patch blocks and violets for all the triangles. I decided to use red for the nine-patch (to represent the heart in the Fool's Gold logo) and matched the colors of the triangles to the Fool's Gold book covers... sort of. Definitely not an exact match, but lots of bright, happy colors.

I'm really happy with how it turned out. I kind of think maybe the white is too white... but I don't want it to turn pink, for sure!

Excellent! Yes, add the color catchers.....it certainly won't hurt....LOL

That's a beauty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe it's your first quilt- you are very skilled!!!

Just don't look too closely! LOL When I look at it, I can't help but notice all the mistakes, all the lines that don't quite match up, etc.

The next quilt I'm going to make is going to be Nancy Mahoney's Granny's Stars. I found the pattern in a Fons & Porter magazine that I got at a garage sale. Here's a pic I found online:

http://www.fpimageserver.com/nl_img/...letter20110223

It's sooo pretty but also very intimidating. But it wouldn't be fun if it was easy!

Like someone else said, shouldn't be a problem with quilting thread, but you might still use a scrap of the white, run some stitches thru it with the red, and dampen it. My only problem with using red on the white is that you are really going to see the stitches. If (like me) your stitches aren't fairly even, it will really show up. That may or may not be bothersome. Your quit is beautiful. I know what you are saying about machine quilting. I don't use the machine for that very reason, but I sure do admire all the lovely work others achieve. Just don't know how they manage! Good luck with the hand quilting.

The next quilt I'm going to make is going to be Nancy Mahoney's Granny's Stars. I found the pattern in a Fons & Porter magazine that I got at a garage sale. Here's a pic I found online:

http://www.fpimageserver.com/nl_img/...letter20110223

It's sooo pretty but also very intimidating. But it wouldn't be fun if it was easy![/quote]

After seeing the 1st quilt you ever made, Granny's Stars will be a piece of cake! It is a beautiful quilt!

That's a great idea, to do a practice run. I never think of that, but of course that's the right thing to do!

As for my stitches being seen... I thought that would look cute, but you're right, I hadn't considered that it would look bad if my stitches aren't even. Which they probably won't be, since this is the first time I've done this. Hm... I still think I'll probably do the hearts in red, but I'll really try to pay attention to the uniformity of my stitches.

Pretty quilt!

Thank you, Gigi! I appreciate your kind words!

It's beautiful.

I like to use colored thread because it shows off the quilting. If I go to all that trouble I want someone to know it is there. Your quilt is already beautiful. Have fun.

I don't know the answer to your question, but just wanted to say that your quilt is gorgeous.

Thank you! The pattern is available for free on the Fun Stuff page at www.foolsgoldca.com. I used very different colors than suggested in the pattern, though, because I'm a rebel. :)

I started hand-quilting last night. Wow, that's not easy! My stitches look like they were done by a fourth grader. I know I'll get better with practice, but wow. You know, I had been planning to stitch white fabric on the colored triangles, and that's what I started last night. But maybe I should do white fabric on the white triangles, since it won't show. And then I can finish all the triangles before starting on the hearts, getting lots of practice in.

Hmmm... but if my white on white won't show, how will I know if I'm getting better?

Humbird's suggestion sounds like a good idea. Hope it all works out for you as that is a very pretty quilt. Good job!

"Just don't look too closely! LOL When I look at it, I can't help but notice all the mistakes, all the lines that don't quite match up, etc."

It is really quite amazing how all the small imperfections seem to vanish after the quilt sits for awhile. When we forget exactly where they are, they really seem to disappear!

When I made my 1st quilt it was a Christmas quilt so it had lots of red fabrics. Not knowing anything about prewashing or anything about quilting I did not prewash...when I did wash it my whites were pink!! I was sick, I didn't even use it for Christmas. When I washed it again it was beautiful!! Whites were as white as could be...I was sooo excited!!!

Oh wow, that must have been such a wonderful surprise! A Christmas miracle! LOL

Thank you, Bonnie. I love the quilt in your profile picture. Gorgeous!

I just noticed that you're from Manhattan, Kansas. My husband is from Iola, Kansas.

Beautiful quilt. Anxious to see the finished product!

Why couldn't you just take some red thread and soak it in some hot water for a while to see if it bleeds to appease your worries. I haven't had any problem with quilting threads running either.

Thank you! This group is so friendly and wonderful!

Beautiful quilt!!

I stared at this quilt for quite a while, and I think it's a beautiful quilt. You should be very proud of it.

I had a purchased a burgundy and green quilt hanging on my wall for years. I decided that it was time to wash it and did so..didn't know anything about color catchers, so it bled like crazy when washed. Having a huge wall that was empty, I replaced the quilt with another cheap store-bought one and just use the one that bled for a cuddle quilt. When I washed it a second time, all of the bleeding disappeared. I was thrilled, so can use it elsewhere but have already replaced it on the wall. People always ask if I made the wall quilt. Someday I will be able to answer, " YES, and it only took me ??? months."

I once read of a quilter who would put a spool of thread in a
jar of hot water and let it sit for an hour or so. If the water became tinted with the thread color she would repeat. When the water was clear she dumped it out and let the spool of thread dry. Obviously, this process requires some time. I have never tried this but a couple of questions come to mind. One, if your're using quilting thread (ie waxed thread) will the water actually get through the wax to the dyed thread? Two, will the water penetrate all the way into the inner layers of thread or will you have to repeat as you use the thread up? Maybe I will experiment...

Love your quilt.

Thank you so much! All these positive comments are going to my head. ;)

Lovely quilt! I think you will be fine using red thread made for quilting

Love your quilt, don't know about thread.

I would question that, if the thread was wound tightly, that it might mold on the spool before it ever thoroughly dried out.