Hand Quilting Scrappy Thousand Pyramids susies-scraps.com

Hand Quilting Scrappy Thousand Pyramids

Hand Quilting Scrappy Thousand Pyramids

Hello Dear Friends and Readers. welcome to today’s post. Today I would like to share and hopefully inspire you with you my Scrappy Thousand Pyramids Quilt. Last night I finished putting the binding on after recently finishing the hand quilting. Luckily I managed to find a similar fabric in the French General range to use for the binding.

Here is the link to the original pattern made with 5” strips for easy peicing.

Scrappy Thousand Pyramids Quilt and Lessons in Pyramids

I had decided that hand quilting would be the better option for finishing this quilt. The main reason is that I suspected trying to free motion quilt around or over the intersections of the pyramids might not be satisfactory. The other reason is that I do love antique quilts. I think that this had that sort of a look. Many of the fabrics, (but not all) are French General. My solution was to hand quilt it. Having just finished hand quilting my grandmother’s garden like grandma used to make, Grandmother’s Flower Garden Quilt Like Grandma Used to Make I felt encouraged to hand quilt this Scrappy Thousand Pyramids Quilt too..

Hand Quilting Scrappy Thousand Pyramids susies-scraps.com

This was not particularly difficult as I just followed the seam lines, 1/4” away approximately.

For more information about the hand quilting process, I can refer you to a previous post in which I detailed my methods. All In Hand – Lessons In Hand Quilting

While it may seem a big task to some of us, it actually turns out to be a lovely evening activity. I think it’s a good way to quiet the mind and concentrate on just making some beautiful quilting stitches. This is a rather restful activity. On the other hand, there is wrestling with a large quilt on the sewing machine, which I still love by the way. If however, there is no urgency to finish the quilt, then a little bit of stitching done each night turns out to be, in its own way, quite efficient. Perhaps, during this evening time, is not necessarily when we might be at our best to be doing free motion quilting. This is probably best reserved, in my opinion, to a daytime activity.

To me, this was a good opportunity to try to continue to improve my hand quilting stitches.

Hand Quilting Scrappy Thousand Pyramids susies-scraps.com

TIP

Maybe at this point, you might be thinking 🤔 ahh but at night time, the lighting is probably a less than ideal. Obviously if you have a directional lamp that can focus on your work, that would be nice, however, a better option maybe what I have been doing. I have been using a headlight at night. This turns out to be really good. One can adjust the beam to be downward looking and brighter on the work. This way it’s still relaxing and a large amount of overhead light is not required. I believe there are all different kinds available now for camping and in hardware stores. The one I am using is called Bilby. It has a rechargeable battery if you want to look it up here is a good review.

https://www.gadgetguy.com.au/knog-bilby-400-lumen-silicone-headlamp/

Hand Quilting Scrappy Thousand Pyramids susies-scraps.com

Hand Quilting Basic Requirements

Quilting Hoop

Quilting Needles

Thimble

Quilting Thread

Small Scissors

Small bag to keep the thimble, scissors, thread, and needles

Optional Headlamp

One of the very nice things about hand quilting is that it is very easy to clean up the quilt top as you go. Snip off unwanted threads etc. And I only used 2 needles for the whole quilt!!

Hand Quilting The Borders

For the borders, I continued the triangle theme. I did not mark the quilt borders. I just followed the finishing points of the pyramids. I adapted the triangles for each border according to the width available. Overall the quilt is lovely and soft and drapable due to the hand quilting.

Hand Quilting Scrappy Thousand Pyramids susies-scraps.com

 

It is lovely to finish a quilt. It is one less in the “to be quilted pile”.

Hand Quilting Scrappy Thousand Pyramids susies-scraps.com

I do believe that my stitching has improved a little from the beginning to the end of the hand quilting process.

If you enjoyed this post, you may also like

Orange Peel Quilt and Pattern

Susie’s Roses Romance Quilt and Free Pattern

Have a wonderful day or evening wherever you are in the world.

Susie

© Susan Stuklis 2023

8 thoughts on “Hand Quilting Scrappy Thousand Pyramids”

  1. WOW your hand stitching brings these fabrics to life. I absolutely love your quilt. Once again you’ve inspired me to keep working on my hand piecing quilt top project that I plan to hand quilt. Thank you. I have yet to find a comfortable thimble so I will check out your link. Thank you so much for sharing your quilting joy ❤️

  2. This is a beautiful quilt! Hooray for your choosing hand quilting. I am not a fan of machine quilting at all, though I know it is often the practical solution. I love the colors of this quilt and the quilting adds SO much to it.

  3. Hello Susie,
    Just beautiful, specially love the hand quilting.
    I always love quilts but have a really soft spot for hand quilted ones. They seem soft and more cuddly to me. Thank you for sharing. Better go back and so some more hand piecing and hexies. Have a lovely week.
    Chris

  4. What a gorgeous quilt! I particularly love the scrappiness, and the fact that you hand quilted it. It’s a feast for the eyes. I’m currently working on a hexagon quilt, piecing it by hand, and once the top is all put together I’ll decide if I want to quilt it by hand. It makes a nice portable project, which goes in hand with all the fabric I’ve been cutting into ‘pre cuts’, and if its large enough I get a cut or two for the hexie quilt. Getting to the end of cutting up the scraps (thank heavens). I see the smaller offcuts have multiplied in numbers to the point that I need to do something with those next. “Make it yourself” fabric, sewing the bits and pieces to a foundation fabric cut into blocks, and those make lovely quilts to donate, too. I sort by colors and just sew it into a lovely jumble of color blocks. Hate to waste….

  5. Wow! It is so lovely to look at and it must be delicious to wrap up in. Those French General fabrics are amazing, aren’t they. I love the way hand quilting provides so much texture. Good job!

    1. Very nice. I was told that one of my quilts was a version of 1000 pyramids so I hopped over to take a look. Can you tell me the time period of this pattern and possibly the region they were popular

      1. It is hard to say. The antique examples I have seen range from 1850 to 1930. The older examples were from Pennsylvania. The fabrics of your quilt would be a clue to the time frame.

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