Graffiti Quilting on Jan's Bear Tracks Quilt + DIY Bernina Mastery Classes

HAPPY FALL, everyone!  Time to get snuggly with this wool-batted bear paw quilt made with beautiful jewel-toned batik fabrics!

Graffiti 13 E2E on Jan's 69 x 69 Bear Tracks Quilt

Jan used the Bear Tracks Quilt pattern from Island Batik Ambassador Jackie O'Brien, available as a FREE PDF download on her web site here.  When Jan brought this quilt top to me for quilting, she had seen pictures of the bear paw quilt "Color Outside the Lines" I made a couple years ago that I quilted with one of Karlee Porters digital Graffiti edge-to-edge designs, and Jan requested something similar for her quilt.

Graffiti 13 E2E with Fantastico Variegated Thread, Color Molokini

For an even bolder impact on Jan's quilt, we chose Superior's Fantastico variegated trilobal polyester thread in color Molokini (this post contains affiliate links).  On my own bear paw quilt, I'd used a very thin, 60 weight thread in a pale silvery color that blended and disappeared into my fabrics.  One isn't better than the other, but they give very different looks.

Who Wore It Best, Panto Edition: Snow Crystals Quilting Design on Two Holiday Gift Projects

Can you believe Christmas is only SIX days away?? Today I'm sharing two small Christmas quilts made by two of my favorite clients, Julie and Olivia. Even though I have lots of different snowflake designs in my library, we happened to chose the same Anne Bright Snow Crystals B2B design for both of these projects. However, I tailored the scale of the design, thread colors, and batting choices very differently to complement each project so they are interesting to compare side by side!

Those Trees Throw Quilt: Metallic Thread & Wool Batting

57 x 69 Those Trees Throw Quilt, pattern by Zen Chic Moda available here

For Julie's Those Trees 57" x 69" throw quilt (pattern by Brigitte Heitland for Moda Zen Chic is available here on Etsy, affiliate link), we used fluffy Quilter's Dream Wool batting for its lightweight warmth and fabulous loft.

Megan's Vintage Kaffe Fassett Shot Cottons + Curly Weave E2E Equals Magic!

 I don't normally post a client's post before they get it back from me, but my client Megan was so excited by the "teaser photos" I emailed her of her finished quilt that she gave me permission to post them right away.  If she loves this quilt now, I can't wait until she sees it in person because it is just unbelievably soft and cuddly and even more gorgeous in person than it looks in the photos!

Megan pieced this striking quilt using vintage Kaffe Fassett shot cotton stripes (affiliate link -- you can still find these on Etsy!) that she's had in her stash for awhile, and when I saw the pictures of her quilt top I was instantly smitten by the way her unexpected cool turquoise sashing and binding fabric contrasted with the mostly warm, autumnal tones of her striped fabrics. So much energy and life in this pairing, don't you agree?

68 x 78 Shot Cotton Swatches Quilt with Curly Weave E2E Quilting

I was delighted when Megan decided to go bold with her choice of quilting design, playing up the modern vibes instead of going with something "safe."  

My Pineapple Log Cabin Is Quilted, and I LOVE IT SO MUCH!

Oh my gosh, you guys -- I am so, SO pleased with how the quilting turned out on my longtime UFO pineapple log cabin quilt!!!  😍😍😍

Pineapple Log Cabin Quilt with Moulin Rouge E2E

Pineapple Log Cabin FAQs:

• Quilt top measured 120" x 120" before quilting
• Blocks finished at 17 3/4"
• Log cabin strips finished at 3/4" and there are 97 fabric pieces in each block, 3492 in the entire quilt, plus borders
• Quilter's Dream Wool batting
• Glide 40 wt thread in Color 97494 Sea Foam (needle) & Glide 60 wt thread in Light Tan (bobbin)
• Quilting design is Moulin Rouge E2E from Urban Elementz, sized at 8.5"

I was so relieved when I got to the bottom of this quilt without having to piece any extra batting on the sides!  The widest batting comes is a stated width of 120", and packaged batting usually gives you a few inches more than what it says on the package in the length, but the width of a roll is the width of a roll.  Whew!  Normally, I make sure to have at least 4-6" of extra backing AND batting on all four sides of a quilt.

Glide Thread in Sea Foam, Moulin Rouge E2E Quilting Design

Talk about playing "batting chicken!"  So, let's talk about this Sea Foam thread color!  My first instinct for this quilt was a more traditional off-white or ivory thread color, but I wanted to keep the focus on my piecing design and on my fabrics.  

Featherlicious Quilting on a Hunter Star Quilt + Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Wool Batting

This beautiful Hunter Star quilt is fresh off my frame, ready to be shipped back to my client Jo, and I am so pleased with how it turned out.  Jo pieced this quilt as a gift for her sister, using fabrics from Moda's Daybreak collection by Three Sisters.  

Abundant Feathers E2E on Jo's Hunter Star Quilt with Wool Batting

When Jo first reached out to me about this project, she had seen the Graffiti #7 E2E on my Color Outside the Lines quilt and thought she might like something similar.  I suggested Abundant Feathers instead because it has a similar sweeping movement, curved lines, and dramatic impact of the Graffiti design, but with a more traditional style that better complements the soft colors and traditional fabric prints in Jo's quilt.  

I know everyone loves seeing "Before & After" photos.  

...And Now, Hand Stitching the Machine Embroidered Quilt Label

Appliqueing the Label to the Quilt Back Prior to Binding

So remember the label for my Tabby Mountain quilt that I designed in my Bernina v8 Designer Plus embroidery software and stitched out on my B 750QE sewing machine?  I designed and stitched out the label back in March, and stuck it on my design wall until the quilt was finished.  

Machine Embroidered, But Sewn to the Quilt Backing By Hand

There is a fatigue that sets in near the end of the quilting process, a desire to just be DONE WITH IT already, and I think that's why so many quilters don't label their quilts at all.  They want to "just get it done," and plan to add a label "later," but then they get excited about a new project and later never comes.  I try to combat that tendency by getting my label ready BEFORE I start quilting, so that it's ready to go as soon as I trim the finished quilt.

Hand/Machine Wash COLD Gentle, Dry Flat or Tumble LOW, DO NOT OVERDRY!

This quilt does have a wool batting, so I've included care instructions on my label.  I don't want to scare off my gift recipient from using her quilt with overly involved care instructions, but the main points to convey are washing in COLD water instead of warm, GENTLE cycle if machine washed (less vigorous agitation and a less aggressive spin cycle) and to avoid overdrying the quilt.   I used this batting on my son Lars's Drunken Dragons quilt several years ago and, even though I confess that I have not always followed those care instructions myself, that quilt is aging nicely.  The wool batting is warm and snuggly and has a nice drape, even with a densely quilted quilt, and I can tell as I'm hand stitching the label that it's a great batting for hand quilting as well.  My needle is just gliding through it like a hot knife cutting into a stick of butter. 

I like to put my quilt label in one of the corners of my quilts so that only two sides of the label need to be appliqued to the quilt backing.  The other two sides will be secured by the binding stitches.  That helps to ensure the label won't ever fall off the quilt (although my hand stitches are spaced as close together as machine stitches, so they're pretty secure).  

One funny thing -- I'm using 60/2 cotton embroidery thread to applique the label to the quilt backing, and it feels like I'm sewing with ROPE now that I've grown accustomed to using YLI silk thread for needle turned applique!  

I did end up having to buy binding fabric, but I found a pretty purple fabric at my local Bernina dealer 5 minutes from my house rather than having to travel to my not-quite-local quilt shop (also a Bernina dealer, coincidentally) that is between 40 minutes and an hour and a half away, depending on whether I hit rush hour traffic on the Interstate.  I wish my local Bernina dealer carried more fabric inventory, and more contemporary fabric lines (Tula Pink, Kona and Bella Solids, Kaffe Fassett), like the faraway dealer does.  Anyway, today I didn't need a whole bunch of different fabrics; I just needed ONE fabric that would complement the fabrics in my quilt for a binding, and I'm glad I found it at my Bernina dealer's shop.  It's so nice to walk in and be greeted people who treat me like family and call me by name.

Eagerly Awaiting Binding!

And now, here it is nearly 9 PM, and I have prewashed/preshrunk my binding fabric but haven't yet cut and joined the strips, let alone sewn it to my quilt.  

So obviously, my To-Do for Tuesday has got to be BINDING THIS QUILT!  And that's it, folks, because whenever I try to come up with a list of weekly goals for this linky, I just end up feeling badly about not reaching them.  ONE goal, that's all: Just the binding!

I'm linking up with: 

• ·       To-Do Tuesday at Stitch ALL the Things: http://stitchallthethings.com
• ·       WOW WIP on Wednesday at www.estheraliu.blogspot.com