Rhonda Bracey: At Random

And then there are the quilts that are just so bright and, well, jolly! This was one of them. Who’d have thought that flouro lime green and bright pink would go together? But with the addition of black, they sure did.

But how to quilt it? I thought about emulating the paisley motif in the pink fabric, or doing just straight lines (a la modern quilts), but ended up opting for largish circles in a neon/fluoro lime green thread in the main top, then a sort of ‘stem and leaf’ motif in neon/fluoro pink in the borders, leaving the solid pink border empty of any quilting.

I had fun doing the circles, but the stem/leaf borders took much longer than I expected.

I also loved the Aboriginal design backing fabric on this quilt, and felt it was a bit lost there — it would make a good quilt in its own right.

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

Back:

Threads used:

• Top: Mettler Poly Sheen (40 wt polyester, colour 5940 [lime green]); Isacord (40 wt trilobal polyester, colour 1940 [pink])
• Bobbin: Bobbinfil (white)

A few of the quilts I get to quilt for the Community Quilts program are just weird, in my opinion — this one falls into that category. I have no idea what inspired Windham Fabrics to make this circus panel from the 19th century/early 20th century, or what inspired someone to buy it, or what/who inspired them to make a quilt with eight panels rolled straight off the bolt of this strange fabric!

I suspect this is an old panel, as the backing fabric also looked old and a dessicated carcass of a beetle feel out when I opened it up. Also, it had been hand basted and the thread used for the basting felt old too.

So, how to quilt it? There was so much going on in the panels that I decided to just outline the main features in a 100 wt almost-black thread. I wasn’t sure what — if anything — to do with the ‘sashing strips’ surrounding the panels and eventually decided to just stitch the cursive word ‘circus’ multiple times (in the same thread) to hold them down.

A very strange quilt…

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

If you look carefully, you might see the word ‘circus’ stitched in the black sashings/borders:

Threads used:

• Top: Wonderfil Invisifil (100 wt polyester?, colour IF 179)
• Bobbin: Wonderfil Invisifil (100 wt polyester?, colour IF 179)

I loved the colours in this quilt, and with the fish and the butterflies, I was always going to quilt it with a flowing motif. And to enhance the colours in the quilt, I used a bright neon/fluoro lime green top thread!

I started in the centre with big dipping waves across the quilt, echoing these waves (to a degree) from the centre out, gradually making the waves less steep by the edges.

Update: I found out after I’d done it that what I thought were fish were actually parrots!!!

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

Back:

Threads used:

• Top: Mettler Poly Sheen (40 wt polyester, colour 5940)
• Bobbin: Bobbinfil (white)