Thread Tales From A Scrappy Quilter

Several pretty quilts with some all over quilting, some freehand and some using hand guided pantographs.   freehand feather swirl, sometimes there are fullness issues and you must work from the front of the machine to smooth everything out.  This one turned out fantastic!   Undulate, by Denise Schillinger.   Hand guided panto.   Ideal pattern to showcase some pretty fabrics   Rhapsody, hand guided panto    It's rare that I get a quilt that after quilting....it all fits back in the bag the client sent it in!   How cute it looks in there.    I really like this big star quilt.  Scrappy in fabric and a variety of sizes, my kind of quilt. This quilt could have gone a modern route with some major custom quilting on it.    But, it is yummy with a simple freehand spiral and easy on the budget.   Sometimes that makes you lov...

Here are some fun, scrappy or novelty fabric quilts by clients that I've quilted recently.       Quilted with Denise Spirals hand guided panto.   Notice on the busy fabrics the  design shows through behind the fabrics and your eye readily determines that there is a spiral design quilted.  My first choice for busy fabrics is a one motif type design that is not too large.  This quilt showcases exactly why I like those.  Even in the photo, you can see the design stand out a little in the dark border.   Backing was busy also .   Busy makes for great daily use quilts.   I love a nice scrappy quilt also.  They do present quilting design challenges.    I love my Innova!  Quilts load  flat and square so easily compared to my HQ.     Wonderful, large, little boy quilt.   Very busy fabrics.     Client opted for ...

Here are 2 very different quilts, both quilted with the same, hand guided, pantograph pattern, Clematis.  All over designs really look very nice on many quilts.   Some fabrics do all the talking in some quilts, other times an all over design is just a better choice for the budget.  I've seen applique quilts that have been quilted with all over designs and they were still gorgeous.   Some quilts beg to be custom quilted but many times an all over design is just what the quilt needs.       These were all fabrics that I could use a light lavender thread that showed on the white as well as all the med/dark fabrics used.   Often the biggest obstacle is choosing thread when you have a range of light, medium and dark fabrics and many colors.   Somewhere the thread is going to blend.   This particular quilt also needs careful consideration when choosing a design because you don't want the background fabric t...