Customer Quilt

This is a quilt I finished a while ago, but that I really want to share. I had just watched Myrna Fickens DVD Just do it - Freehand Design. I had also spent a play day with a fellow longarm quilter. So my head was full of new ideas. I'd had this quilt a while waiting for it's backing to come in, and I had completely forgotten what the quilt looked like, so it was a surprise when I got it out.

Somehow I had been expecting a much simpler pattern so now I had to come up with something that would fit this quilt. It's a scrappy quilt and that inspired me, scrappy quilting. I know Myrna did say not to put all the patterns on one quilt, but why not on a scrap quilt. So that's what I did. If you clock on the pictures you will get bugger images and can see some of the patterns I used.

The thread is a bright variegated so it blends in and pops up quite randomly. All the stars are unquilted so they pop up from the background. I've used a continuous line pattern. I like this as it gives a similar feel to stitch in the ditch, but with a bit more interest. It is also a lot quicker to do so I can charge a lot less for it. It is especially good for stars as it somehow seems more starry to me.

In the background I think there is some of everything. The concentric circles was a new one for me. I've tried several of these echo type patterns and I don't like any of them. This one was unintentional and I love it. It's already appeared on a couple more quilts! Funny how these things happen isn't it.

The leaves with curly bits are very much from Myrna's DVD. I've looked at the little curls other quilters do and I hadn't thought that I was accurate enough to make them delicate. However with the confidence from Myrna I gave them a go. I was pleasantly surprised. I can do it. Also if I use my normal curls in with leaves they look good too.

Something else I tried for the first time here was a rolled fern. I've done quite a few curled feathers, but not any of my spiky ones. perhaps starting with one 2" in diameter is a bit odd, but it worked. It does show how well many quilting designs scale. I could imagine this one curl on a kingsize, it would look great.

So I hope you've enjoyed taking a close look at this quilt. I hope I will be able to take some full pictures of it once the binding is on. It will also be coming up as a class at Patchwork Corner, so if you fancy making your own keep and eye on their site.