The last of the four quilts I quilted this weekend was another appliqued quilt, this time with a theme of angels. Like the bunny quilt, this one had panels where the applique was the most important element, and I wanted to make these appliqued angels ‘pop’. But I was a bit over stippling! So this time I decided to do some McTavishing. If I thought small stippling took a long time, then McTavishing blew that out of the park — it takes MUCH longer. I think it probably took about six or more hours to quilt this quilt.
For those who don’t know what McTavishing is, it’s the flame-like quilting I did in the applique panels. It’s a technique that was developed/promoted by long-arm quilter, Karen McTavish.
I left the borders unquilted as I felt that this quilt didn’t need any further quilting! However, I did ‘stitch in the ditch’ around the blue star fabric border, just to stabilise this area.
Threads used:
- Top: Superior King Tut ‘Papyrus’ (color #972), 40 wt (?) cotton
- Bobbin: Wonderfil Deco -Bob, 80 wt, color DB 205 (pale pink)
Click on a photo to view it larger.
Rhonda Bracey: At Random 
Looks beautiful and, yes, I think that McTavishing is a bit more time consuming but so fabulous for this! The appliques look great because of it. Good job!!!! Can’t exactly tell if you stitched around the appliques first or if the quilting pattern is the only stitching. Hugs, Doreen
Hi Doreen
Thanks for your kind words! No, I didn’t stitch around the appliques first. I figured that I’d be stitching right up to the edges anyway that I didn’t need to add an extra hour to the job 😉
–Rhonda