Channeling my energy...

I'm making progress on "Spare Change," eagerly trying to get it done so I can move on to something else.

This kind of quilting doesn't go very fast, even it if is fairly mindless. I've done it many times before, in varying widths from really loose on one of my first quilts way back in 2004 to kind of close to mighty tight, which took FOR. EVER.  This one's medium density (for me), with lines no more than three-eighths of an inch apart.

I call it "Katekwiltzing," but Jacquie calls it "organic line quilting," which is probably more appropriate and not quite as self-centered. Coincidentally, she posted on her approach to this last week. Her explanation is very clear, but I have a couple things to add. Lessons learned the hard way:

• Avoid weaving back and forth across vertical seams -- it tends to make the seams "stand up" and look jagged.
• Use low-loft cotton batting! Unless lumpy is the look you're going for, polyester tends to be too spongy for this application.
• Also, this is definitely not the time to use any kind of fusible batting! Because this quilting compresses the layers so much, everything shifts as you quilt from the middle out toward the edges. What happens to the insides of your PB&J when you press down on the bread? Same thing happens here. I usually pin and repin every five to eight inches to adjust for creep. If your quilt sandwich is fused, you'll end up having to heat it up and readjust the back and front several times to get rid of the ripples, which is messy and a pain in the butt and not worth the time. You'll end up pinning in the end, anyway, so just suck it up and pin in the first place.
• Lay the quilt out every six to eight inches to gauge your progress. It's very easy to get those lines leaning to one side, and very difficult to tell just how much they're leaning when you're sitting at your machine. You really need to keep perspective (literally and figuratively) and catch any weirdness before it's too late to fix.

That's just a few more thoughts -- I hope you're inspired to give it a try!

Maybe organic line quilting can be the new stippling?