Three Ways to Quilt Embroidered Blocks
Today’s Topic: Three Simple Ways to Quilt Embroidered Blocks
Welcome to Week Twenty Six (Bonus Material) of The Better Machine Quilt-a-long based on my book 25 Days to Better Machine Quilting.
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Good Morning, Quilters!
Today we have a little bonus material that was not included in 25 Days to Better Machine Quilting.
Sadly, due to editorial constraints, these samples and this material was not included in the book. But that’s one of the joys of writing a blog….there’s always room for more!
Embroidered Blocks
Embroidery has been popular for hundreds (if not thousands) of years. So whether you have a few vintage blocks from your grandmother, or you are creating one of the fabulous designs programmed into your dedicated embroidery machine, don’t be afraid to use embroidered blocks in your quilts!
The blocks shown here were stitched by hand by my daughter, Olivia. She used patterns from the book Lunch Hour Embroidery.
The book is full of adorable designs and includes an excellent reference chapter with diagrams on how to create a variety of stitches.
Quilt Embroidered Blocks
Just like applique blocks, it’s important that the embroidery gets top billing and is The Star of the Show.
The machine quilting can try out for Best Supporting Actor/Actress.
Add a Simple Frame
One of the simplest ways to quilt embroidered blocks is to add a frame around the embroidery with machine quilting.
The frame can be any shape. A circle, square, or diamond often works well. But also consider a shape that tells something about the embroidery–perhaps a lemonade pitcher would have worked for the embroidery above.
Whatever shape you choose–it can then be created by stitching a simple line or more embellished. For example the square above was created using the pearl motif.
Quilted Details
If the embroidery is a large design, it may be helpful to quilt within the embroidery design. Simple outlining works well, or add a few details to enhance the design.
Density Frame/Pop
Another way to add interest to the embroidery is to frame the pattern and then quilt densely around the frame. This draws your eye into the embroidery. Add a few more quilted details if it suits the design.
Thread
In all of these samples, I used lightweight thread to match the background fabric. This helps keep the embroidery in focus, and the quilting in the background.
Background
As much as I love machine quilting, it is important to remember that sometimes its most important job is to play a supporting role.
(Thank you, Olivia for playing Best Supporting Embroiderer!)
As they say, it’s teamwork that makes the dreamwork!
Happy Stitching–embroidery or quilting, star or support!
Lori
PS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy Quilts and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to re-blog, pin or share with attribution to LKQ. For all other purposes, please contact me at Lori@LoriKennedyQuilts.com. Thank you!
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Love all the samples. I do my share of embroidery so those are great ideas. Thank you Lori.
Perfect timing! I have 12 embroidered blocks to put together into wall hangings as soon as my cousin gives me her colors for sashing.
whenever I have have embroidered blocks to put into a quilt I have always sent the quilt top away for someone else to do. NOW I am going to practice each of your ideas, (I suspect I might be drawing a frame around them first) then maybe – I hope maybe I can quilt the tops all by myself. Thank-you for this great tutorial and….inspiration.
Very timely. I have a baby quilt my 90 year old mom embroidered for my niece expecting a baby and I have to quilt it. I also have a full sized quilt of chickens that I embroidered and want to finish up. Pretty sure somewhere in there are a whole bunch of embroidered sunflowers I made at least 8 years ago too!
Thank you for the lesson on quilting a quilt with embroidery. That was very informative. I love to do Redwork but have no idea how to quilt it. The project I am working on is a large area of dense Redwork. Have I said I love Redwork? Well, now I’m concerned about the quilting. I don’t think it would look good to quilt over Redwork by machine. So will it require hand quilting? i just don’t know. if you can give me some suggestions, I would love hearing from you. The only thing I can come up with within the Redwork is to do crosshatching, but I’m almost certain that would need to be by hand.
Just wanted to share that my granddaughter by age 16 was a proficient embroidery artist. We struck a deal concerning a quilt for our son’s fiancee. In her 20’s, Granddaughter embroidered the cornerstones at ends of the borders, designing flowers similar to those in quilt fabric. It turned out really beautiful.
Thank you Lori. Could you divulge the embroidery program used for the alphabet blocks.
Wow, this is timely information as this week I am quilting an Easter egg embroidery wall hanging. Yesterday I got all the bones stitched (stitch in the ditch) done and today I am going to do the border with feathers. But I had not decided on how to stitch the embroidery blocks. That is always a tough question for me and today you sure gave me ideas. Thank you so much. I sure don’t know why the editors left this out of the book as it is very much needed.
Thank you Lori. My Mom and also Mother-In-Law embroidered beautifully. A few years ago the pillow cases wore through, but not the embroidery. Didn’t know what to do with those, but now I have ideas.
I hope you have more chapters to share with us. I’ve never seen a discussion about quilting and embroidery. Bet you have more very useful ideas up your sleeve.
Thank you, Lori, for this bonus. Such creative and lovely ideas.
Thanks Lori great inspiration!!!
I just longarm quilted an embroidered quilt. They were blocks on a baby quilt which were all cross stitched, but not dense. I simply cross hatched the entire block in white thread (background was white) right over the embroidery. It doesn’t even affect the embroidery at all. I’ve done this successfully several times….so another option! Thank you for all your great ideas, Lori.
Con este posteo me has ayudado a combinar mis dos grandes placeres : el patchwork y el bordado, gracias Lory!!!!
Now I have no excuse — I have some embroidery projects to get busy with! Fantastic information.
Thank you! I’ve been waiting to quilt my embroidered blocks quilt, now I’m ready to go!