Beautiful Blue & White

This is a lovely 94" blue and white double Irish chain.  When I get quilts such as this, with HUGE open squares (the blank square is like 13-14"), it becomes a daunting task of what to put in the square.  I know that this blank square is a large part of the overall look of the quilt, and must be quilted wisely to maximize the quilt's appearance. There are 24 blank blocks!

There are no borders on this quilt (not like you can really see that from my photo...I have nowhere to just lay the entire quilt out!).  It is just squares.  So, one of my first tasks in designing the quilting is to try to design faux borders into the quilting.  The other task is to create a visual focal, the other thing missing when all blocks are the same.  There absolutely must be a place for the eye to rest.

Below is what I did for the outer border.  That is the lower right hand corner.  My client commented that she likes feathers.  Heck, most people do, and this is a great quilt to use feathers on.  It's already delicate and soft; feathers only intensify that.  The edge has a wide meandering feather, and parallel 1/2" lines spanning out to the outer edge.  This will be very pretty as it hangs (it may be attending some shows) or lays on a bed.

One thing to note is that this quilt has just a single layer of Hobbs 80/20 batting.  It is a mid-weight, but is not very bulky.  The loft is limited, and is certainly not as puffy as some show quilts that I do which have a wool batt or even double battings.  The single layer is perfect for a bed, as well for a budget-minded quilt.  Not all quilts get the added $50 for the wool!  Had this been darker colors or heavier prints, I would have rallied for a fluffier batting to show off the quilting.  Light and whites tend to do just fine with single layers.

 The center has a large star, with plenty of feathers, inside and outside.

The twelve blank blocks around the center star are quilted with a lovely stencil design.  I bought several stencils last year and am slow to pull some of them out.  This actually fills a 12" block, but I placed it on point for a different look.  The arcs that surround the stencil are done with my curve-crosshatch ruler with minimal marking.  The addition of 1/4" channels inside and outside of the main 1/2" channel make the shape much more visible.  I then densely stippled inside the space to make the stencil shape pop.  You can see below how pretty and unique the quilt looks with these.  I really like it.

 I used two similar 40wt threads - Glide in ivory and a pale blue (for the swirl-McT filler) YLI polished poly.  They lend a soft sheen to the surface of the quilt, and a nice delicate look.   Lastly, all of the 9-patch blocks are CC'd with the absolutely tiniest of circles.  I used my 1-1/2" circle to stitch all of these 2" diameter circles.  Now, to find a box and get this sent off to NH, and get onto the next (sigh...!) custom quilt in the queue.