WIP Wednesday - Quilting "Bittersweet"

At the beginning of the year I set an ambitious goal for myself:  piece together a scrap quilt and a baby quilt each month.  The following month I plan to do the quilting on those two projects as well as piece another scrap quilt and baby quilt.  Whew!  Things are going good so far.

I've dedicated this week to doing the quilting on "Bittersweet" which was a mystery quilt that I made from a large variety of scrap fabrics.  I blogged about making this quilt here and here.  Besides selecting the fabrics for a quilt project I find it hard to decide on the stitching pattern to use.

Normally I use quilt basting spray to secure my quilt sandwich but I ran out so I simply used safety pins.  The pins tend to get in my way as I sew but I was deliberate in where I placed them.  Once that was done, it was off to the machine for stitching.  First step was to stitch in the ditch, outlining the basic 8-inch blocks and get those pins out.  I did leave the pins in place that secure the outer edges of the quilt.

The next step was to make a tracing template for the design I'm quilting in the "X" blocks.  Last year, during the SewCalGal FMQ2012 Challenge, expert quilter Don Linn taught us how to make a template using an embroidery hoop and fine mesh tulle fabric. This technique worked well for this stage of my project.

So, after about four hours of sewing I have completed the ditching and nine of the "X" blocks.  This is the first time I've ever kept track of my quilting time and I'm curious just how long it really takes me.

I have another eleven "X" blocks to go and then it's on to the 16-patch blocks.  At this point I still have no idea how I will quilt those blocks.  I'm open for suggestions if you have any.

I'm linked up with WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.

Thanks for visiting and Happy Quilting,
         ~Diane