Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Clamshells Quilt

This totally great new Neimeyer quilt is by CI Jackie Kunkel.  I thought I was going to have to wait to show it for another week or so until its unveiling at spring market, but when she posted a photo today, I knew it was safe to show.  I quilted it for her in December, and it is probably my favorite of all quilts I have quilted for her.
The colors are just yummy.  But then you already know I love lime green and orange!  It has a wool batting and is quilted largely with a peach YLI polished poly thread.  Pure white areas have white thread, but in person it has a pretty colored thread that shows, ever so faintly.
 Sorry, this is sideways, but I'm not patient enough to try to turn it.  I custom designed a feathery motif for the area beneath the clamshells.  This saved me from actually ditching all of those spikes.  I think it gives the quilt a pretty and unexpected flow.

Don't get me wrong, there was plenty of ditching done around all the arcs and triangles.  Otherwise they wouldnt have been so crisp.
 I love designs like this because though there is a lot of stop and start, it does fill pretty quickly.
 The white border has a pattern I also designed and happen to really like.  It is first quilted with the clamshell/semicircles, then the echo, and then the feathers last.  Gotta take advantage of even the smallest real estate...this was a 2 or 3" border.
Of course the back (why did Island Batik send Jackie aqua???!) shows a little of the quilting.  Or a lot!...
 And it seems that this just is not my day because this one is upside down too! Go figure.
Time to go putter on my own quilt, which is going at the pace of a dead snail.  Nice to know few things change!


7 comments:

Raylene Smith said...

Stunning, as usual Margaret..although it's a lovely quilt, you have taken it to another level with the quilting..

KaHolly said...

I saw her post earlier today. This quilt is gorgeous, and it's the beautiful quilting that makes it such a stunner?

momto1 said...

This is just gorgeous, but then I can say that about all your work.

Will you and/or your quilts be in Houston in the fall? I'm hoping to go to festival then, and hope I get to see some more of your work up close. I've enjoyed seeing your quilts at Quilt Odyssey, but don't know if I'll make it there this year.

Susan Lawson said...

Margaret!, this is so beautiful! I've done one of Judy's patterns and Jackie seems to pull them together overnight! Amazing. Will be a great feast for the eyes at market.

kupton52 said...

Jackie's quilt is gorgeous but it's the quilting that really makes it magnificent. You have such a talent for finding the perfect marriage between designs for quilting and the piecing. Do you have time for a quick question from a novice? On this quilt, for example, do you stich in the ditch first all over the quilt to stabilize it? Then re-roll and quilt different elements or motifs or re-roll and quilt a specific space? I just finished a quilt with a different feathered design in the blocks as well as the setting triangles and a continuous feather around the perimeter of the quilt. The quilting was beautiful on the front but I had a horrible tuck on the back and wondered if it was because I had rolled the quilt so many times. It was also the first time I pieced a queen-size backing---I've always used (for the year I've been quilting, lol) extra-wide backing fabric.

Vicki W said...

You and Jackie make a great team! Your quilting is spectacular.

SallyAnne Quilts said...

Sharing your talent and work gives me and I’m certain other, inspiration! Thank you so much, it is beautiful.