Sunday, September 27, 2015

Let the Sun Shine -- Brackets, Feathers and Straight Lines

Hi all -

I've done some more quilting on my Let the Sun Shine quilt. I started off by quilting the brackets that I marked in my last post. I spent a bit of time trying to decide what thread to use. These are background areas so I want the quilting to be subtle, but I really like the designs I chose so I want the quilting to be visible. I know I want the lines to be thin, so I went to my standby background thread -- 100 wt silk. So I pulled out all of my silks and started looking at the colors. First I looked at blues. I didn't want to match the fabric color, so I looked at lighter and darker blues, but they were all too visible for my taste. I thought about grays, but they still looked too visible for me. Finally, I tried some greens and ended up choosing a dark khaki green. Not the color I expected to use, but I really like how it looks.

I stared with the brackets and the feathers in the middle. I'm better at shorter feathers, so this was going to be an easier area for me. I did all of these without breaking thread. Here's what it looked like on the back where you can see the quilting better:


Not perfect, but I'm still liking it. While I was in the groove, I went to the outer brackets and feathers. These feathers were more difficult for me because I needed the plumes to be long and thin:


I did better on these than I expected. The next part I wanted to add was the straight lines. I picked up Lisa Calle's longarm rulers for quilting 1/16" and 1/8" parallel straight lines and decided to give them a try with my new ruler foot. I love them and will definitely be getting the other widths! Here is how the center area turned out with the 1/6" lines:



And the outer area with the 1/8" lines:


 And a view of the whole thing on the back:


And on the front:


I think this quilting creates a really dramatic frame for the center of the quilt. It's subtle, yet visible. I'm very pleased.

I also worked on getting all of my class supplies together for Houston. It always seems like Houston is further away than it is, and I end up scrambling to get everything I need. This year, I have everything gathered and ready to go:


The only thing I didn't already have is some write-on transparencies which I've ordered from Amazon and will be here in a couple of days. So everything is in the suitcase, ready to go.

Fall colors have also come to the area. Here are a couple of pictures from my yard before it goes away and winter sets in:



Lance and Wesley came out to help me with my pictures:


Hope you're having a great fall!!

Nancy


10 comments:

  1. Great job on the quilting. Love it all and that you did the narrow straight lines with rulers. So cool! And so nice to see that stuff all packed for Houston. Saw you in the audience on TQS that was released today.

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    1. You caught me! I just watched the show and there I was! Thanks!!

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  2. I love the yellow and blue and your quilting is spectacular! Hey do I see a portrait quilt of your furry friend happening in Houston? Have fun!
    Karen kfstitcher

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    1. That's right, I got into Charlotte Warr Andersen's portrait class and I'm going to work on my picture of Lance that I've been wanting to make into a quilt for years now. I actually took this picture of him on the day I brought him home and I've been waiting since then to have the time and technique for making the quilt. The class is 3 full days, so we should get pretty far on it. Thanks!!

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  3. What foot are you using to quilt with your rulers? I love how your piece is shaping up!!! Wow!!!!

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    1. Thanks! I have a Bernina and I'm using their new ruler foot, which is foot #96. The foot is designed for their new longarm and my dealer was adamant that you can't use it on your domestic, but it works great if you are careful to make sure you have the foot down whenever you put the needle down or the needle bar will hit the foot. Since I've always put the foot down to pull up the bobbin thread, this has been a no-brainer for me.

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  4. Wow! I love "Let the Sun Shine" - the colors are gorgeous and your quilting is stunning (as always!!). Love the little posers at the end of your post - hi Lance and Wesley!!! (too bad they don't like each other :) )

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  5. Thanks! I'm really enjoying this one and look forward to getting back to it after Christmas.

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