Sesame Street Quilting With a Playful Floral Swirl E2E Design

Hello, hello, and happy Thursday!  Is it a "sunny day, sweeping the clouds away" where you live today?  If not, don't despair -- "I can tell you how to get, how to get to Sesame Street..."  

Seriously; by the time I finished quilting this one, I could NOT get the Sesame Street songs out of my head.  "C is for cookie, it's good enough for me. Cookie cookie cookie starts with C!"

4 inch Tumbler Quilt with Floral Swirl E2E Quilting Design

This is the second of two donation quilt tops that my mom pieced for me to quilt and donate to a local hospital pediatric patient, using the leftover Hibiscus Kona Solid background fabric from Lars's Mission Impossible graduation quilt (finished in 2019 and juried into QuiltCon Together 2021).  There was a ton of that Hibiscus purple fabric left over, and my mom kept me company in the studio while I was custom quilting Mission Impossible and she was using my AccuQuilt GO! cutter with the 4" tumbler die to cut up all of the leftover purple fabric into tumblers.  The print fabrics were pulled from my scrap bin and my stash, except for those fabulous Sesame Street prints -- I spotted those at a local quilt shop and they were a complete impulse buy.  I knew it would be great for The Charlotte Quilters Guild's Pediatric Outreach efforts.  

Floral Swirl E2E in Tabriz Orchid Glide Thread

This is a digital E2E (Edge-to-Edge) quilting design by Judi Madsen, a computerized version of one of her freehand designs called Floral Swirl.  I used Glide thread in Tabriz Orchid, which was about as dark as I could go in thread color without seeming to "scribble" across the Sesame Street characters' faces in the prints.  The high contrast between the pastel purple thread color and the deep, Hibiscus purple background fabric makes the quilting design really stand out, a similar effect to what this quilt would look like if the background fabric had a swirly print on it instead of being a solid.  For the purposes of this quilt, that was exactly what I wanted.  The dark purple fabric is difficult to capture accurately in photographs, but it's darker than it appears and hints towards eggplant rather than being a true grape purple.

Flimsy Prior to Quilting (Purple Background Fabric is Darker Than it Appears Here)

The lighter thread color and whimsy of the Floral Swirl quilting design helps to brighten up that purple background and ensures that the finished quilt is much more cheerful than sombre.  However, if we'd wanted the quilting to be more subtle on both the print fabrics as well as on the dark purple background, this would have been a great candidate for invisible monofilament thread.  (I know that some people have very strong opinions about monofilament thread, though, so I don't use it on charity quilts).

Tabriz Orchid Blends with Prints, Stands Out Against Dark Purple Solid

This is the first time I've used this particular design, and now that I've seen how it stitches out with zero backstitching, I'd love to try it in a heavier variegated thread like YLI cotton or Superior's King Tut.  In addition to quilts for babies and young children, this would look great on a quilt for a "'Tween" girl or even a high school graduate.

What About the Snuggle Factor?

Often when clients bring me quilts for babies and young children, they express concerns about whether "too much quilting" might result in a stiff quilt.  Actually, there are several factors that impact the stiffness of a finished quilt even more than quilting density, and the most common culprits causing a stiff finished quilt are the amount of piecing in the quilt top itself and the batting choice.  Since most quilt contemporary quilts for babies and children are lightly pieced from large fabric patches and/or panels, there's not much weight or stiffness in the tops to begin with and, as long as the batting isn't stiff, the finished quilt isn't going to be stiff, either. With quilts for young children, especially in a hospital setting, frequent laundering is inevitable.  Moderately dense machine quilting results in a soft but sturdy quilt that can stand up to wash and wear.

Approx. 46 x 57, Ready for Binding

So, what's next on my frame?  I have several beautiful client quilts scheduled for this week and next, each of them completely different and I am so excited about the designs we've selected for each of them.  I can't wait to share them with you!

Giverny Teleidoscope Update

Meanwhile, amazingly (to me and to everyone who knows me!), my younger son's high school graduation quilt "Giverny Teleidoscope" is still on schedule to be completed on time, -- without any stressful midnight sewing frenzies fueled by dangerous quantities of espresso!

Lime Green Ombre Backing Fabric, From My Stash

In the photo above, the top three rows of kaleidoscope blocks have their corners attached and have been seamed together into rows.  The next two rows, plus the first two blocks in the row below that, have had their corner triangles attached but are still individual blocks waiting to be sewn into rows.  The "hole" is the block that is currently at my sewing machine getting its corners sewn on.  And what you see draped over my ironing board in the foreground is 7+ yards of fabric that I'd purchased for something else and decided against using.  That's right, y'all -- I found backing fabric for this quilt IN MY STASH instead of going to the quilt shop to buy more fabric!  I decided to piece the backing from three widths of fabric with horizontal seams, since I had enough yardage to do it that way.  That will make the ombre striped effect run horizontally across the back of the quilt rather than vertically.  Also, do you see my machine embroidered label for this quilt, pinned way off to the right on my design wall?  I chose that solid lime green label fabric before I had any idea what I'd be using for backing, so I'm pretty sure this was all just meant to be. ;-). I've decided to use the navy background fabric for the binding, and I have plenty of that left, too, so there are no shopping trips needed to get this quilt across the finish line.  Woo-hoo!

Need Something Quilted In a Hurry?

FYI, I had blocked out extra time on my schedule in early May just in case I fell behind and needed to get caught up on my son's quilt.  Since I'm cruising along ahead of schedule with my kaleidoscope, I'm opening up a few more slots for E2E customer quilts.  My turnaround time is approximately 2 weeks, so if you or any of your quilting friends has a quilt top ready for quilting, I'd be honored to quilt for you!  Details and contact info for my quilting services can be found here.  😀. 

I'm linking today's post with the following linky parties:

WEDNESDAY

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

THURSDAY

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation  

Free Motion Mavericks with Muv and Andree

FRIDAY

Whoop Whoop Fridays at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Off the Wall Friday at Nina Marie Sayre

 TGIFF Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday, rotates, schedule found here: TGIF Friday

SATURDAY

UFO Busting at Tish in Wonderland

SUNDAY

Frédérique at Quilting Patchwork Appliqué

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

MONDAY

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts  

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

BOMs Away at What a Hoot Quilts