Quilting Flutterby Fancies
Without a doubt, the hardest decision for me, when it comes to quilting, is settling on a background fill. I have my favorites and I argue with myself about falling back on tried and true. I want to use a fill that will compliment the quilt, and be interesting, but not more interesting than the applique and piecing. Scale is important too. Too big and loose will look like I got lazy and just wanted the darn thing done. Too small and tight will make the piece stiff and take freaking forever.
For a quilt with lots of curves, a linear design makes a nice counterpoint. Conversely, a geometric design is often complimented with a curvy quilting design. In the end, I used a peacock eye design, mostly because I had just taught a class in free motion quilting and was reminded of how fun this design is to stitch. So much for science.
The open corners on the borders are just begging for some sexy stitching. I decided to do some simple princess feathers, mostly because I could use the heart shape in the corner to change the direction of the feathers. It mirrors the heart shapes in the flower petals and the flutterby wings. Using a flexible ruler I marked just the spines. I used a pale peach rayon thread (by Sulky, I think, it’s been in my thread stash for a while). It seemed to me that the quilting needed a little more oomf to hold its own against the vibrant colors of the applique.
Simple curves on the pieced blocks, flowers and leaves completed the quilting.
All that remained was that lovely, peaceful task of turning the binding. I’m totally old school on this, stitching by hand. Because my hands are still healing, it took several hours to complete the binding. It made for a lovely morning, in my rocker on the front porch, listening to my latest addiction, the “In Death” series by J. D. Robb, aka Nora Roberts. (I’m working my way through the series, up to Born in Death.)
I couldn’t resist snapping a picture of my spiffy nails (installed at the local mall). Yep, I’ve definately reentered my sparkly phase.
May 21st, 2010 at 9:06 am
Glad to see you getting back in the swing of things, Beth. Be sure to take breaks and give your hands rest when they need it. You’ll need them to be strong when picking up that new grandbaby!
Just downloaded the new series pattern, looking forward to the next installments in the set.
May 21st, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Beth, welcome back to almost normal, I hope you are soon fully recovered from your ‘adventure’ !
Thanks for sharing your thinking on the quilting designs, you always seem to pick just the right motifs for your samples. I’m pretty chuffed at my finished ‘Be Still My Heart’, both because I loved the design and I found a ‘just right’ quilting pattern. I traced around the applique templates to extend the designs as quilting, filling in with some swirls and dots (you can see less-than-stellar pictures here http://fiberbabble.blogspot.com/2010/05/be-still-my-heart.html).
BSMH is on display at my LQS and everyone loves the pattern (I share your web address every day!)
I was so excited for the release of the next pattern I was checking in almost hourly on the 15th - and Flutterby Fancies just tickles me! I’ve already started preparing the applique shapes and planning, planning, planning!
Thank you so much for your generosity - and for helping ME re-locate my quilting mojo!
May 21st, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Oh it looks beautiful Beth! And sparkly is good..my daughter is in a sparkly phase so there are sparkles EVERYWHERE right now!
I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your class in London! It was fantastic!
May 21st, 2010 at 4:02 pm
Great looking quilt Beth. Glad to see you’re recovering. Is there a way to make your photos clickable to larger sizes? I’d really like to get a closer look at your wonderful quilting.
Thanks for the great patterns.
Linda J
May 21st, 2010 at 6:22 pm
Received my kit today–it is wonderful. The colors are gorgeous, and I can’t wait to get started on it. Do you pre-wash?
May 22nd, 2010 at 7:52 am
Love the butterfiles! Thank you again for sharing these patterns! The minute I found the new pattern I was off and running! Thank you for reinspiring the LOVE of quiliting in me. I have not been this excited to start a project in very long time. The BSMH was a great learning experience and that one is actually getting done!
(To Linda J) On my web browser I can zoom in to see a larger version of the picture. The quilting is amazing!
May 22nd, 2010 at 7:58 am
My kit came yesterday. The colors are beautifully brilliant! You’ve inspired me to try hand applique again, Beth. Thank you.
May 23rd, 2010 at 3:39 am
It`s looks just gorgeous!!Your hand applique are great .This quilt is once again brilliant.Well done and thanks to share it.
May 24th, 2010 at 8:52 am
So glad to hear your hand is healing. Looks like you’ve planned a busy summer.