A Quilting Romp

After all the intense work on my huge whole cloth quilt, I needed to quilt something that I didn’t have to think about too hard-something that was just a romp. I wanted to be able to quilt just for the simple joy of it.

For once, I actually kept it simple. I grabbed one of my vintage hankies, waddled to my considerable stash of Radiance fabric and started making some simple design decisions.

I used a single layer of wool batting, Radiance (45% silk/55% cotton) for both the top and back and layered my vintage hanky on top.

All those curves look great with a grid next to them so I did have to mark the grid. Marking on the hanky was easy but I could not find the right tool to mark the dark Radiance.

I tried every color of Frixion pen, several white pencils, a hera marker and a Chaco marker. Everything except the Chaco either disappeared, skipped, or left marks that were barely visible. I don’t think I’ve used a Chaco in a non-garment application in a decade!

Even at that, the marks rubbed off easily and some of my lines were too wobbly to follow. I will surely have to redo the binding and go back and fix some of the not-so-straight lines.

It was my intent to put curves on both sides of the spine in  the center of the border. But once I got the inner border quilted with curves, the outer border demanded something linear. I am pleased with the mix.

The metallic thread is “Sparkle” by YLI. I did not use a topstitch needle with this metallic-wrapped silk thread. I used a jersey needle instead. Diane Gaudynski has worked a lot with this thread and that is the needle she found success with. It worked very well and gave no trouble.

In all the other areas of the quilt I used 100 weight silk thread in both the bobbin and top. The grid on the hanky was much too plain when I finished quilting it and it was demanding beads-I acquiesced! I am a fan of metallic seed beads on a grid and I think it balances nicely with the metallic thread in the border.

It doesn’t have a name yet but I think it will be my donation piece to the auction at Houston this year-after I fix those wobbly lines in the border! BUT, I reserve the right to change my mind. I won’t need to donate until late October, so I may create something else by then.

But this was a good, fun romp of a piece and I enjoyed both the process and the outcome.