Tuesday, February 02, 2016

Current Client Quilts

Last week the binding fun was mostly on hold, as I quilted on this large beauty.  It is 84" of applique! I regret that I don't know the pattern or designer, but I do know it took the maker a long time!  There's not an abundance of open space for quilting, but I still like to try to work some design in.
The owner sent wool batting, which is really a must if you have an applique quilt.  She also told me to plan on this hanging on a wall, rather than being on a bed.  That just means that denser quilting is fine.  While I would quilt this dense for a bed quilt for myself, some people don't want that amount of stiffness on their beds.  Seriously, though, it softens with use.
 I used about 3500 yards of Bottomline thread -- that is a 60wt thread.  It is really fine, leaving mostly just texture.  For a quilt with this much color and busyness in the applique, I didn't want to add anything but texture to the top.
 She back stuffed that bird a little bit (it's pretty puffy!).
 I was seriously getting tired of stitching pebbles by the time I finished.
 The border has a pretty pin-striping, with some feather sprays coming out of the larger floral arrangements.
 Lotsa leaves...
This is a cute lap quilt made by Andrea.  A couple years ago I quilted nearly a dozen quilts for her to be part of her wedding dowry.  She has one more, and all of these (if I understand correctly) are going to the Dallas Quilt show to be part of an exhibit.  Maybe she'll send me pictures!
I chose the pumpkin seed pattern for the center because there were several fabrics in the quilt that had this same pattern.  It was an easy sell.  This design was a good choice too because it lays symmetrically in the ivory octagons, and a pantograph would not have.
 These fabrics are on the modern edge, so I chose a free-handed border that was a little edgier.  I wasn't sure, but love it now that it is off of the machine.  This has one layer of 80/20 batting and is stitched with a sea-foam Omni (40 wt) thread, which matches the outer border.  The color shows subtly on all of the fabrics which is nice.
This design is free-handed, rather than stitched using a circle template.  It is expected that there are natural variations.  All in all, I think it looks pretty uniform though!

I am still working on the binding of the quilt I showed last time, and will have some times to report soon (as the continuation of "finishing your quilt").

Time to get my kiddo to gymnastics!

5 comments:

Dre said...

Margaret,

This just looks so amazing. Thank you so much for being my partner on that journey I embarked on a couple years ago. It was only fitting that you quilt this last one of my set for me. <3 I will definitely send over pictures of the quilts at the show.

-Andrea

Luann Fischer said...

Margaret,
As always, I'm awed.
The first quilt is gorgeous. If I ever make a large one I'd put it on the wall too.
May God continue to bless you,
Luann
www.letscreatetoday.blogspot.com

Joy said...

I love both of these quilts. I have nothing but admiration for the appliquer. Her stick-with-it-ness is to be envied, not to mention her talent.

I also love the simplicity and colour pallet of the second quilt. Your quilting brings them both home. Brava.

Rhonda said...

OMG! I could not stopping looking at the quilting on the applique' quilt. What a fantastic job you did. Those circles, as you said, were time consuming but well worth it. You are something else!!!!!

Larain said...

OMG what fabulous quilting, I really have not seem quilting of this merit. I will have to put aside some money and send you a quilt from Australia that I feel is worthy of such beautiful quilting. Thank you for sharing and I am sure the lady was thrilled.