Thread Tales From A Scrappy Quilter

This is Sandra's lovely Garden Wall, a Judy Neimeyer paper pieced  and appliqué pattern that lends itself to all over quilting.     I had a hard time deciding whether to quilt all over or start and stop around the applique.   It probably would have been fine to stitch over, it's very "blendy" but in the end I didn't want to take the chance!  This is not stitched in the ditch, it is a tiny step up from an allover design.   I didn't want an awkward design falling directly on top of a flower,  etc. so I started and stopped around the applique and just placed somw curling fill inside the smaller areas.     Handquided panto "FLIGHT of Fancy".     Lovely back too!  

These 3 lap quilts are off the frame.   All three used the same backing which was very busy and super to work with because most thread colors blended in nicely.  I had recently picked up a bundle of paper pantographs from someone  that had gone digital/computerized so was curious to try out some of those new patterns.  The beauty of working with a pantograph is that you don't have to worry about spacing on your quilt top.   Everything is very symetrical and well balanced but the downside is that you are working from behind, looking at a piece of paper and not the stitching.  These 3 would have also been good quilts for me to work on my own freehand fill designs but I just had to try out these patterns.   All quilts made from members scrap baskets. Jacobean panto, I liked it on paper but stitched out I feel it would have been perfect with something in the center of those leaves. ...