String Leaves

Sharon contacted me and sent me this string quilt to finish off for her. She had a vision of leaves quilted into the design with a variegated thread. It took a little back and forth to come up with a plan that got us both on the same page - there are various leaves to choose from and finding a thread that had the right mix of colors in it was harder than anticipated.

 Sadly the pictures will never give the true perspective of colors in this quilt... Sometimes it just won't translate well, but this quilt was stunning in person. The mixture of hues were so vibrant and captivating.

 With such a mixture of colors and how the quilt fades from light to dark from the center out, it made choosing thread a little more challenging than usual. Plus since Sharon wanted a variegated thread, the hardest part was finding the right mix of thread colors. Some of the thread choices were almost perfect but faded into reds and burgundies that were a little too overpowering for this quilt.

 All in all I used three different threads on this quilt. The variegated thread was used in the leaves. A light blue was used to fill in the background and a teal was used for the back. The teal matched the backing so well and was the perfect "middle ground" between the colors in the variegated thread. Think of it as a happy medium.

 Here you can see a close up of the leaves and the differences in threads. This quilt was fun to work on and the mixture of colors and strips made every row like a new discovery as I worked along.

The quilting shows up so much more on the back of the quilt. And here's my little tip for you today - the biggest misconception in the quilting world is that your quilting will stand out more with bright crazy variegated threads... WRONG. Look at the two pictures above. Which one shows the quilting more? The top with all of the colors and various threads or the back where the thread was meant to blend into the fabric?

That's right, when the thread blends into the fabric, your quilting will actually stand out more. Take that in for a second. This is why many quilters will "skimp" (for lack of a better word) on visually busy areas in a quilt because you're not going to be able to see the quilting anyway - so why put in all that time and detail when it won't ever get noticed... And focus your attention on the plain(er) areas that will actually showcase the quilting more.

Does this surprise you? Does it go against your quilting instincts? Here's another way I look at it. Take a light quilt and quilt it with red thread. Your quilting will definitely stand out more but for all the wrong reasons. When anyone looks at that quilt they will see the thread first, quilting second and the quilt last. You want the attention to be quilt first, then the quilting and maybe if it's needed the thread. The thread choices you make should accent and amplify the feel of the quilt, not fight for attention. Does that make sense?

Alrighty, well I'm trying to plan a few more quilty picture posts for you all while I have some energy to sit at the computer. Still no Little Miss yet, but I will keep you posted! Have a great day! -Rebecca

Machine Quilting: Rock Island Campfire

Carol made this quilt... and has been making this quilt for some time. It's a super amazingly scrappy masterpiece that needed a little pop...

 And that little pop came in the form of that super tiny black and white checkerboard fabric... I love this quilt, but I knew before I even got started that I was going to have a migraine or two working on this quilt. That's just how it goes sometimes.

 I started out and only made it about half way through the first day before my eyes and head were exhausted, but I was loving how the progress was going.

 For this design, I had a drawing of the quilting plan I kept next to me as I worked. In order to keep the motifs in the correct orientation in the blocks, this was my little road map and it was so helpful...

 Here you can see it better. I even numbered the quadrants and which direction I needed to go into first. Without this doodle I would've messed up... a lot... I don't always need a doodle like this, but with exhausted eyes and a pounding head at times, it was needed this time.

 But alas, the next day I was well seasoned and we had beautiful sunshine that actually helped. The first day was a bit overcast and gloomy so the checkerboard was very very loud visually. The next day the sunshine made the other fabrics brighter and equal visually to the checkerboard fabric so it was much easier to look at for hours on end.

 Carol and I both agreed that this quilt wouldn't be the same without the crazy checkerboard fabric... And it really makes this a happy fun quilt to balance out the other colors and textures. We came to the conclusion that the checkerboard fabric was like the red-headed stepchild that holds the family together. Simple as that.

 Isn't this quilt gorgeous?! If you're heading to the Lake Farmpark Quilts 2015 Show coming up here soon, you will be able to see this quilt in person! Just saying!

 Here's a much better representation of the quilting in relation to the block and the fabrics in the quilt. I love string quilts, but I will warn you, they're very heavy! Tons and tons of seams, so plan on a quilt like this for those long winter nights, not a light quilt for the front porch...

And here's how the quilting design looks from the back of the quilt without all of the other visual stimulation from the fabrics. I'm very happy with how it turned out and I think this quilt was a mixture of all sorts of wonderful things from start to finish to create a beautiful quilt. Wouldn't you agree?

It's amazing how this quilt's personality changed in the differences in lighting. Remember that little tidbit if you're working on a fabric with a ton of fabrics (like my super insanity crazy quilt I shared yesterday). Maybe the fabrics look a bit muddled or off and you don't know why... Maybe it's the lighting. Remember to look at your quilts during various times of the day to see if maybe they're happiest in sunlight, or brightest under indoor lighting at night. When you pulled together the fabrics initially, the lighting may have been different than when you're working on a quilt (like if you bought them at a store with fluorescent light or during the middle of the day on a weekend but you only sew at night). Just a little tidbit to share...

Well, I wanted to thank Carol again for letting me play with her quilt and sharing this crazy envision of scrappy quilts. It's such a treasure to click with other quilters on a level that certain fabrics and ideas just make sense and pull at your heartstrings! We can have a little too much fun at times and I love it!