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| Sneak Peak... |
But here's the thing - I wanted to use a method I picked up in Ann Peterson's Craftsy class ("Quilting Big Quilts on a Small Machine" - AWESOME CLASS BTW). This method called for more batting than I would have normally needed because of its QAYG nature. Suddenly my king size package of batting wasn't big enough. So I ended up piecing a bunch of larger batting scraps from my closet. Don't tell anyone, but these batting scraps weren't all the same brand/thickness/fiber. But they were close enough and I'm pretty sure they were all polyester, so I made them work.
Following Ann's advice, I first stitched-in-the-ditch around all of my blocks using invisible thread. For anyone considering using polyester batting on one of their quilts, I HIGHLY recommend it! Tons of people warn against using polyester because it's so slippery, but I didn't really have any problems with it and I think it's because I ditched so much of my quilt before doing any FMQ. Or maybe the wrinkles and puckers are just hidden in the puffiness...
I liked how the quilt looked after ditching and even though the quilt's recipient probably would have liked it better this way - simple, puffy, with the blocks highlighted - I got a little cocky and decided to add some fancy free motion quilting.
First I took my colored sketch and stuck it in a sheet protector to practice designs with a dry erase marker:
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| I went with the top design, for those of you who can interpret this photo. :) |
Choosing thread was SUPER hard! I had originally bought a variegated thread that I thought would be fun, but I was worried it would be too dark on the lighter sections. But I auditioned a couple neutral threads and they stood out even more, so I stuck with the variegated. By the way - I went through TONS of thread quilting this thing! I had to go back to the store two or three time for more.
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| Auditioning thread. Look closely and you can see the light gray, variegated, and dark gray thread. |
I knew I wanted a swirly design that looked like ocean currents for the middle Storm at Sea section. I also wanted the design to be pretty large, because I'm not sure the recipient loves super tight quilting the way I do. It was kind of hard to quilt such a large design because of how often I had to move my hands... And I have a confession to make. I quilted the ENTIRE section and then decided I didn't like it and could do better. So I picked it all out and started over using almost the same design, but with a little more marking and planning. It turned out better, but it's NOT perfect. There are still lots of wobbly lines, square curves, and the thread doesn't always blend in. But it looks great from a distance. ;)
The Snail Trail sections were more fun to quilt, because it was so much easier to blend thread with the neutral fabrics. I went for more swirls, but closer together - as if the sea is churning in a storm.
And those big huge neutral borders were just too tempting. So I broke my "try not to quilt too densely" rule and quilted lots and lots of pebbles. Smaller pebbles on the inside blend into bigger pebbles on the outside, with random swirls thrown in here and there. The very outer edge was the perfect width for feathers, so I did one giant feather around the whole quilt.
Of course, the back looks pretty cool. I always try to match my bobbin thread to my top thread, so most of the thread on the back is white, but I used brown for the areas where I used variegated thread.
For the most part, the polyester batting worked out great. This is the only major pucker I had in the entire quilt, and honestly I'm just happy there weren't more.
Here's another confession. I actually bound the quilt before I finished quilting most of the outer borders. See, I had an opportunity to spend 8 hours watching LDS General Conference, and it seemed like the perfect chance to sit and hand bind the quilt. So I did. And then I finished quilting my already bound quilt. The best part was that I didn't have to worry about having the edges of my backing fold over and get caught in the quilting. :)
One more sneak peak. Stay tuned for the final reveal! I'm trying to decide if I want to wait until the Blogger's Quilt Festival or if I should just share it sooner...
P.S. Finishing this quilt was my April goal for ALYOF and I'm happy to be linking up:
