Fancy Peacock Tail Feathers on The Road Home BOM for Mildred: Making a Subtle Impact With a "Busy" Quilting Design

Peacock Tail E2E Stitched in 40 wt Glide Thread, Color Warm Grey 4

 "I love that design, but will it look too busy on my quilt?"  That's a question I often hear from my longarm quilting clients, especially when we're considering a newer design and I don't yet have photos of what it looks like stitched out.  Just looking at line drawings of quilting designs, they ALL look really busy because of the high contrast of the solid black stitching line against a white background.  However, in real life it's almost always the relationship between the fabrics in your quilt top and the thread color we choose that will determine how subtle or dramatic the quilting appears on your finished quilt.  This beautiful batik quilt (It's The Road Home BOM from Wilmington Prints) that I finished recently for my client Mildred, pictured above, is a really good example of this. 

Peacock Tail E2E for Subtle Texture

On Mildred's Road Home, I've quilted out Peacock Tail E2E, one of those designs that looks like it might be "too much going on" when you look at the line drawing:

Line Drawing for Peacock Tail E2E Quilting Design by Nancy Haacke

A couple things to note about this design.  First, it's a very large scale design, and the image above is showing six repeats nested together.  You're not looking at the design anywhere near the size I'd actually stitch it out, either -- the purpose of this drawing is to give an overall view of how the design will repeat and "flow" across the surface of the quilt.  I love the sense of movement this design creates and I love how the rows nest together so well -- you don't look at the finished quilt and see "rows" of quilting at all.

For Mildred's quilt, we wanted the dramatic movement and fabulous texture, but didn't want the quilting lines themselves to jump out and compete with the elaborate medallion patchwork design.  With that objective in mind, I chose Warm Grey 4 Glide thread (this post contains affiliate links) because it blends into her blue and gray tonal batik fabrics so well.  You just see fabulous swirling movement that leads your eye through the patchwork design and brings it to life.  

My Suddenly-Empty Nest + My Client's Gorgeous Jason Yenter "Seasons" Quilt

I have a gorgeous client quilt to share with you today, but first -- OH MY GOSH; it's SO QUIET and empty in my house right now!!  If either of my sons was home right now instead of being away at their respective colleges, they would definitely still be asleep, but still.  The silence of the suddenly-empty nest is deafening!

My Son Anders -- and My Kaleidoscope Quilt -- Live at Furman University Now

We moved Son-the-Younger into his Freshman dorm at Furman University yesterday.  The Giverny Teleidoscope quilt I made ended up fitting the dorm bed just fine, although Anders did complain about how he's going to be too hot now and "suffocate."  Poor baby -- smothered by mama's love, even from hundreds of miles away!  😂

Anders' Quilt Blessing at Christ Lutheran in June, Photo Credit Annabelle Laine

I don't think I ever shared any photos from the quilt blessing at our church, Christ Lutheran, back in early June.  They did it outside with just a few families at a time this year due to the pandemic, and summer photography intern Annabelle Laine took this great photo for us.