Still Dreaming

I haven't hardly sat still all fall. I haven't written a blog post in over a month either...My bad. It is certainly not because of not quilting. I have spent considerable time getting a couple of new classes -- their content, hand outs and custom fabrics prepared. Nothing is truly quick.

In the last 2 weeks, I have quilted two more of these beautiful Dream Big panels. This blue/purple colorway is stunning. It is hands down the hardest one I have done in terms of marking though. Neither the blue or purple pens show very well, and the fabric has enough texturizing in its coloring that using chalk is even pretty hard to see. There are a few grid-based designs, but not as many as I might have done had marking been simpler.

Like all of the Dream Big panels I have done, both of these quilts have wool and blend battings. The combo gives so much more to the texture of the fill designs. 

 The threads are all variations of 40wt thread - some Superior Magnifico, some YLI Polished Poly and some Glide. Which one I pick depends on the color needed.

I try to vary which fills I place beside one another so that linear designs go beside more flowy patterns, and vise versa. It helps all patterns to show up that much more. 

Both of these quilts had solid fabric backings. This is a pale lavender that did not photograph well.

It sure shows the patterns though!

The second quilt is the pink variation. I did one of these for myself to use teaching.

This panel has many of the same fills as the purple one, but several are different too. It is a liberating process of quilting these!

This variation has mostly backfills, but I always throw in 4-6 petals of feathers too. About 6 of the fills also use the marked grid. It makes for a lovely mix of textures.

 Some fills are very traditional, while others are edgier and more modern.

If you have one of these panels and might like it quilted, give me a shout (msolomo1@maine.rr.com). Likewise, steps for how you can quilt these patterns and feathers are included in my books (the green books are the fills, and Fearless Feathers) - just click on the icons on the right sidebar. 

I'm about to load a lovely wool applique quilt next :-)

Quilt on!