Winter Wool Applique quilt

I have gotten to the bottom of a large box of Erin's quilts.  I'm trying to remember when the box of about 8-9 quilts arrived, but it was probably February or March.  I whipped out the edge-to-edge quilts quickly, and then it was summer and my custom quilting factory went on strike (that's code for "the three kiddos were all home!").  The last week, when they were finding things to do, I started digging out some of the summer's stockpiles.

Actually, they only went back to school yesterday.  After I wandered around the studio for half an hour wondering what to do, I pulled this quilt out, realizing I probably could get it quilted in a day.

It is 34"x41", and is wool applique on pieced cottons.  There is a lot of print in the blues, so my aim was to just show texture.  This quilt has only a single cotton batting.  Typically, the wool has enough thickness to show nice loft with just the cotton.

A deep navy blue Glide thread was used for the background, and a tan-ish YLI polished poly thread was used for the lighter areas.  These threads give a subtle sheen to the quilt.  All of the appliques are SID too. Because the wool is thicker, I can get away with ditching with almost whatever thread I am using.  No real need to run the clear thread.

 I love how the star turned out.  It has the perfect combination of the motifs I love most - feathers and ruler work.  Just a hint of dense filler makes the ruler channels pop, setting the star off from the swirly background.

 One thing I should note is that this quilt has EVERY seam pressed open.  This makes ditch stitching very challenging.  If you quilt down the ditch, you run the risk of that seam popping open.  I have to be very careful to sew a scant distance 1/16" off from the actual seam.  Believe it or not, it is hard when your brain has trained itself to quilt IN the ditch.  While pressed open seams does create a nice flat quilt, I really do not recommend doing this for custom quilted tops.

OK, here's one last look at the back...it is a dark blue, so all of the lighter taupe bobbin shows!

I have one last quilt of Erin's on my machine, approaching the half-way point.  It's more than double the size of this quilt though, so it may go a couple more days.

Happy Humpday~