Last week I was able to finish the quilting on a monster of a quilt. It was a relief to finish it because I was on deadline, but also a little sad because that meant it had to go home. Here’s what I’m talking about:
That picture only shows about half the quilt. It measures 102″ x 102″! This is definitely one of those times I’m happy I have a large frame to load the quilt on and that I don’t have to pin baste. I don’t have any floor space big enough to spread the entire quilt out on.
For the quilting, I used a combination of rulers, free motion, and robotics. Exactly what I dreamed of doing when I added the ProStitcher to my machine.
In the pic above you can see the paisleys (free motion) the feather block (robotics) and the arcs in the brown block and tip of the friendship star (rulers). It really is the best of all worlds!
In the outer border I stitched feathers but they barely show because of the busy-ness of the print. I probably should have just stitched a piano key border, which you probably know is my favorite border treatment. But I was excited to stay with the feather theme in the quilting, so invisible feathers it was. š
After the feather border there’s a small border of the cutest little circles, or pearls as they are called in ProStitcher. The feather design in the gold border is one of my favorites and I love the way it looks in this quilt.
Of course, the most fun part of the quilt is the back. Look at all that texture! I was super excited that all the threads decided to play together so nicely. I used a burnt gold color on top for a lot of the computerized designs, and an off white Bottom Line in the bobbin, and I only found one spot where the gold peeked through to the back. Success in my book!
For the paisleys and all the ditch stitching I used MicroQuilter on top, which is a 100# thread. It’s so fine I sometimes found myself unable to get hold of it – it was like threading a strand of hair. But it is a fabulous thread for creating great texture without a lot of thread build-up.
So, after this monster went home I loaded up a cute little baby quilt made with fun dinosaur prints.
So of course I had to quilt it with a sweet dinosaur panto. This one is called Dino Swamp.
The dino quilt was a quick finish. It’s very satisfying to load up a quilt, stitch it up and unload it all in the same day. I also finished the quilting on two additional quilts, so all in all a very productive week I’d say!
How about you? What are you working on this week? I hope I have the new linky code figured out. Just as I was getting comfortable with the link party they had to go and change it! LOL I know technology is always changing but it takes me a little while to catch up. Anyway, I’d love to see what you are working on, so link up below. You can link any blog post, Flickr or Instagram – here’s how:
Ooh, Beth, you temptress, you… The possibility of combining robotics+rulers+FMQ is EXACTLY why I’m lusting after IntelliQuilter for my APQS Millennium, but 1) I’m forcing myself to practice more freehand before adding robotics for fear that it would be a crutch that held me back and 2) the COST! Very, VERY difficult to justify for me, quilting only for myself and only making (finishing) one or two quilts per year. If I bought the robotics I would have to find a way to make it pay for itself…
Well, I’m taking LOTS of longarm quilting workshops (actually ALL of the longarm quilting classes!) at Paducah Quilt Week in April, and I’m looking forward to learning as much as I can. I have a couple of very special quilt tops waiting in the wings that deserve greater quilting skills than I currently possess! š
Was the dinosaur pantograph computerized as well or did you follow the old-school paper panto for that? It looks fantastic.
Wow, that is a stunning quilt, beautiful job!!!
I love what you did with the quilting on this – and isn’t it terrific that it worked out exactly as you wanted – using all 3 techniques! The dinos are wonderful of course and those fast finishes are terrific. I made 2 blocks today and feel like a champ!
Love the quilting on this quilt. Sadly, I can’t see any of the links because of this new link format. This is the second link party today which is no longer visible. I’ll still check in to see what you are doing, but I’ll miss the Monday party.
Beautiful quilting, Beth!! I do love my Pro-Stitcher too and enjoy combining free motion with the Pro-Stitcher motifs! Thanks for sharing and great job!!
Beautiful quilting – you’ve been busy!
Hi Beth! I just love seeing all the pictures of the quilting you’ve done for the week. WOW! How productive you were. I just LOVE the feathers in the gold border in the huge quilt – that looks oh so fabulous. It does make me inspire to keep on keeping on with the feathers. Happy Monday to you. ~smile~ Roseanne
WOW! Your huge one is quite amazing!! and the dino – so sweet!
Two beautiful quilts. The quilting in the first one is just outstanding! Love the bright happy dino print too! I’m just planning on playing catch up this week, especially with Moda Blockheads. Unless a squirrel shows up!
looks great – I just took a monster quilt off my frame and getting another one on it
Both quilts look great, that first one is gorgeous with all that quilting. The second is really fun. Looks like you had a very productive week.
Beth, your quilting is both exquisite and delightful.
Thank you so much for showing how three different techniques can work so flawlessly together on one quilt. I have a sit down HQ-16 and so computerized Pro-stitcher is not an option for me but I loved seeing how even with all your pro-stitch power you still do FMQ and ruler work. Lovely beyond words. I am truly inspired. It takes real skill and dedication and careful thought to have all those techniques meld together. One does not just turn on the computer and let it run. Great job. Beautiful.