I just finished quilting a quilt for a customer. It was a fun quilt to do. I believe the quilt is to be a wedding present and the couple requested red and green. My customer used a variation of the yellow brink road pattern and I think the quilt turned out to be beautiful. My customer wanted an allover design quilted on it and I thought it could really do with leaves as there are many nature fabrics used in the quilt top. The border is a green forest and there are many fun fabrics included throughout the quilt.
I personally love using Superior Threads King Tut line of variegated threads for these types of quilt tops. There is so much going on in the quilt top design that the thread is able to move and blend with the different fabrics but still be visible without getting lost in all of the different fabrics. On this quilt I used 987 English Ivy on the top and for the bobbin I used Superior Threads Bottom Line 613 Sage.
I don’t do a lot of pantograph quilting designs as I do prefer to work from the front of my machine. On this quilt I used a variation of a design from the book Meandering Magic by Suzanne Earley. I first saw her demonstrate this technique on QNN video a few years back now. Even though I took my inspiration from the book the quilting always ends up looking different. I love that about free hand quilting. Everyone has their own signature style just like everyone has their own unique handwriting.
Here is a look at the quilt top, I couldn’t get it all in as it was raining today and so I had to take the pictures inside.
You can’t really see the quilting in this photo however it does show off the design of the quilt top nicely.
This picture shows the quilting better. I am really happy with the way it turned out and I am hoping my customer will be too.
I have heard Angela Walters say in the craftsy classes I have taken of hers that if you make a few mistakes or some bobbles that are OK but not perfect when you get the quilt off of the frame you will never notice them. I have found this to be so true. When you are working on just 10 inches at a time you are so aware of every stitch that is just not quite as perfect as you would like. Once you get the quilt off of the frame and you look at the overall effect it always amazes me of how wonderful it always turns out.
My client choose an Ikea fabric for the back and I think it is budgies. It looks really cool though and you could almost use this as a two sided quilt if you so chose.
Well on to the next quilt which will be leaves again but this time quilted in purple. I haven’t decided whether I want that one as meander quilting such as above or something a little looser like a leaf with a loop de loop. I will figure it out once the quilt top is on the frame.
Meanwhile happy quilting!