Rhonda Bracey: At Random

I was really looking forward to quilting this quilt! I’d seen it from afar as it was being pin-basted at the Community Quilting Bee. As soon as I saw it from a distance, I just knew it was aching to be quilted in the ‘modern quilt’ style.

I started by using invisible thread on the hexagons to stitch them down and stitch in the ditch around them. Then I used my Line Tamer ruler to stitch straight vertical lines through the centres of the blowflies (or are they cicadas?).

Next, I stitched a continuous line of overlapping rectangles across all the border fabrics. Finally, I thought I’d add a touch more colour by using the centres of the flies/cicadas to create some coloured hexagons in thread to match the colours of the hexagons in the lower right corner.

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

Back:

Threads used:

• Top: Main thread: Gutermann Sulky (silvery grey [colour #1011], 40 wt, rayon); Minor threads: Fil-Tec Glide (‘Neon Orange’ colour #90811, 40 wt, polyester), Mettler Poly Sheen (bright pink [colour #1950], 40 wt, polyester), Floriani (peacock blue [colour #PF373], 40 wt, polyester?), Isacord (neon green [colour #Fb 6010/A2941], 40 wt, polyester)
• Bobbin: Wonderfil Invisifil (red, 100 wt, colour IF 202)

This was a sweet little quilt! In keeping with the heart fabric, I quilted hearts all over it, using a variegated green and tan thread. I left the centre block and outlined the design in invisible thread.

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

Threads used:

• Top: Wonderfil Silco (colour SCM 15, 40 wt, polyester?)
• Bobbin: Bobbinfil (white)

This little quilt (yes, it was quite small compared to some others I’ve done) took an age to quilt. why? Well, I started by quilting the diagonal lines, then when I’d nearly finished them, I realised that something wasn’t quite right with the bobbin tension and so I unpicked all those lines. Once I got the tension sorted, I decided instead to quilt the straight horizontal lines, but once that was finished, those diagonals still stood out (they were marked and I’d stitched over them, so there were marks and needle punch holes), so I redid the diagonals. I quite like the effect once I’d finished.

But what to do for the border? I decided to pull out some rulers I bought some months ago and give them a go. Except for my favourite ‘Line Tamer’ ruler, I haven’t had much joy with rulers — they seem to cause me more frustration than anything else. I’m probably too impatient 😉 That said, I’m attending a rulers class that my awesome dealer, Michelle, is running this coming Saturday, so maybe I’ll feel more kindly about rulers in future.

Meantime, here are my attempts at ruler work. The main arcs and the lower arcs are all done with rulers; I did the echoing by eyeballing the shapes of the arcs.

And yes, more time was taken as I had to go slow with the rulers, but also because I stitched the back on itself — twice! and had to unpick it… <grrr> I think this small quilt ended up taking about five hours to quilt, when I thought it would be maybe an hour…

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

Threads used:

• Top: Superior King Tut (‘Cairo’ colour #932 [blue, yellow, green and purple variegated thread], 40 wt, cotton)
• Bobbin: Bobbinfil (black)

I quilted this second bright eye-spy quilt at the Community Quilting Bee. As with the first one, it was such a bright quilt, that only a fluoro orange would do as the top quilting thread 😉

I quilted it with an all-over variation of the ‘open headband‘ motif — this time I squared off the points of the arcs.

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

Threads used:

• Top: Fil-Tec Glide (‘Neon Orange’ colour #90811, 40 wt, polyester)
• Bobbin: Wonderfil Invisifil (red, 100 wt, colour IF 202)

I quilted this bright eye-spy quilt at the Community Quilting Bee. It was such a bright quilt, that only a fluoro orange would do as the top quilting thread 😉

I quilted it with an all-over variation of the ‘open headband‘ motif — this time I added a few rounded ‘bounces’ along one of the arcs.

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

Back:

Threads used:

• Top: Fil-Tec Glide (‘Neon Orange’ colour #90811, 40 wt, polyester)
• Bobbin: Wonderfil Invisifil (red, 100 wt, colour IF 202)

Some 25 or so ladies involved in the Community Quilts program I quilt for had a ‘bee’ in Perth on Sunday 30 June. I’ve never been to one before, so thought it was time to make an appearance. I loaded my Sweet Sixteen into the car the night before, and left home about 7:30am to arrive at ‘Craft House’ at Alexander Park in Menora just after 9:00am. I quilted two quilts during the day, ate some lovely morning and afternoon tea goodies baked by some of the ladies, and met some lovely people.

It was quite amazing how much can get done when a group is working together. Some ladies sewed blocks, others made and sewed on binding, and others made and pin basted quilt sandwiches on the large centre tables. I took home another six quilts with me to quilt, and handed off about eight back to Gwen, the current Community Quilts organiser.

I had a lovely day, and the weather was perfect for driving too and from Perth too — a gorgeous clear and sunny winter’s day, with dry roads.

Here are some photos I took on the day, in between quilting quilts.

Gwen and Pat (?) sharing a laugh

Busy, busy

Centre tables for basting

Busy beavers! Daughters, mothers, grandmothers…

Trying to find fabric for a binding from the boxes of donated fabrics

Quilt #91 sitting on my Sweet Sixteen