Rhonda Bracey: At Random

This was a big quilt, made mostly with batiks in purples, pinks, yellows, blues and greens.

After stitching in the ditch around all the large blocks and the border and the outer edge, I decide to counter the rectangular/square design by quilting it in a rounded motif. I used my favourite ‘open headband‘ motif, making the arcs much larger than usual to try to get this quilt stitched fairly quickly as I wanted to get it back to the Community Quilts coordinator on Monday. I extended the quilting design into the border.

I really liked how the King Tut variegated thread (in blues, greens, purples and yellows) matched the fabrics so well.

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Back:

Threads used:

• Top: Superior King Tut ‘Cairo’ (40 wt, cotton, colour #932)
• Bottom: Bobbinfil (black)

I quite liked this quilt — even though the colours weren’t my preference, they went well together. Normally with a sharp geometric block design like this ( a disappearing nine-patch, if I’m not mistaken), I’d soften it by quilting a curved/rounded motif. But not this time — the quilt design and colours just begged to be stitched with a rectangular motif 😉

This is a continuous line motif I’ve used several times before. It’s pretty easy to do as there really are no rules. And no rulers either 😉

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Threads used:

• Top: Fil-Tec Harmony ‘Tweed’ (40 wt, cotton, colour #14076)
• Bottom: Bobbinfil (black)

This was an odd quilt — I didn’t ‘see’ the pattern in it until I saw it as a thumbnail image on my camera, and by then I’d already quilted it ;-). The pink/purple with the cream/black/brown was also odd, although looking at it finished, it seems to work.

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How to quilt it? Well, as there were so many odd-shaped blocks, I started by stitching in the ditch (ESS, yes EVERY one!). Then I quilted the small cream squares — in the ones surrounded by the cream and black floral fabric I stitched a wavy cross-hatch matrix, and on the ones surrounded by the black fabric I stitched a spiral.

I followed that by echo stitching 1/2″ in from the edges of each diamond shape, then repeating the wavy matrix in the diamonds within the cream/black floral, and spirals in the diamonds within the black fabrics. So that took care of those spaces.

Now, what to do for the odd-shaped beige spaces? I started by stitching the centre square in a big spiral, then came out from each corner with a snake-like sweep down the odd-shaped spaces, filling in with circles, then echoing the stitching about 1/4″ from the initial sweeps. I repeated that motif in the other odd-shaped cream spaces on the rest of the quilt.

For the large cream triangles, I stitched a large circle, surrounded by two smaller circles on each side. Then I straight stitched about 1/2″ in from the seams of the cream/black fabric pieces. I didn’t stitch the black fabric or the pink or brown triangles at all. For all of this stitching, I used a dark cream thread (I ran out of the Madeira, but fortunately had a Robison-Anton thread almost the same colour).

The border fabric was strange, with pink/blue/purple squarish shapes in it. I kept it simple by stitching a straight line 1/2″ in from the seam and 1″ in from the edge, then stitched perpendicularly between these two lines to create a ladder or bookshelf effect.

The only ruler I used was the Line Tamer for the long straight lines and stitching in the ditch — everything else was free motion quilted, including the perpendicular lines in the border.

The back:

Threads used:

• Top: Madeira (rayon, 40 wt, colour #1082); Robison-Anton ‘Platinum’ (rayon, 40 wt, colour #2571); Superior King Tut ‘Egyptian Princess’ (cotton, 40 wt, colour #947)
• Bottom: Bobbinfil (white)

This was a pretty quilt! I loved the mix of colours — soft blues, aquas, and creams. And with the type of batting used, it was quite ‘fluffy’ too. So I knew I’d have to either use a design to emphasise the fluffiness, or something to subdue it. I opted for both 😉

In one set of the diamonds I quilted big bubbles/pebbles, and in the other I stitched the diagonal pieces down with up/down stitching about 1/4″ apart (no I didn’t use a ruler and didn’t measure or mark it — just let it flow). That dense stitching really puffed up the centre squares, so I did a spiral in them. I repeated that in the setting triangles.

For the borders, I left the cream border, did the up/down stitching in the small blue border, and some BIG bubbles/pebbles in the wide border.

I quite like how it turned out, and was impressed with the ‘texture’ the quilting created on the back.

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Back:

Threads used:

• Top: Robison-Anton ‘Maize’ (rayon, 40 wt, colour #2264
• Bottom: Bobbinfil (white)

This was an odd quilt. Not something I would have made, but I don’t get a choice in the quilts I get given to quilt 😉 And they aren’t for me anyway.

How to quilt it? I decided to start with the centre diamonds, and stitched a wavy matrix/cross-hatch in each. Then I did an open headband motif for the rest of the top, and some small clam shells in the border (using my Handi Quilter 2″ clam shell ruler).

I used the same light cream/yellow thread for all the stitching on the main top, with a variegated pink/red in the border.

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Back:

Threads used

• Top: Main top: Robison-Anton ‘Maize’ (40 wt, rayon, colour #2264); Border: Superior King Tut ‘Red Sea’ (cotton, 40 wt, colour #926)
• Bottom: Bobbinfil (white)

For one of the first Community Quilts I ever quilted, I actually quilted the back, following the outlines of the flower pattern in the fabric (see https://rhondabracey.com/2012/06/26/community-quilts-1-and-2/). And so for this one. The backing fabric was quite pretty and had some lovely big flowers on it, so I decided to turn it over, put the thread I would normally have had in the top into the bobbin, and put the thread for the back into the top.

By doing that, I was able to use a 12 wt cotton thread that I had — I’ve tried it through the needle and it’s flaky at best, so putting it in the bobbin was a great idea… except that this smallish quilt took about 6 bobbins as so little of the 12 wt thread could be wound on before filling the bobbin. No matter.

I outlined stitched the flowers on the back and the pattern that created came through onto the top. As the top’s fabrics were very busy, you can’t really see the quilting motif, but you can definitely feel the texture.

If this quilt looks similar to the others I’ve done recently, that’s ‘cos it is. I was given a batch of quilts that had used the same block designs and sizes, though all were done in different fabrics, thus creating different effects.

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This is the back — I followed the outlines of the flowers with the King Tut thread:

And this is how it looks on the front, with the thick bobbin thread as the ‘top’ thread:

Threads used

• Top: Superior King Tut ‘Red Sea’ (cotton, 40 wt, colour #926)
• Bottom: Wonderfil Fruitti (Egyptian cotton, 12 wt, colour FT 12)

This quilt was made from the same block pattern as the previous one.

First, I stitched in the ditch around the main diamond blocks, then decided to do a floral style open headband motif for quilting the main design.

For the borders I just did some large clam shells using one of my Handi Quilter rulers, then added a single flame motif between each one to add a bit of interest. I stayed with the deep pink variegated thread throughout and quite liked the effect of the pink on the deep green background.

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Back:

Threads used

• Top: Superior King Tut ‘Red Sea’ (cotton, 40 wt, colour #926)
• Bottom: Wonderfil Deco Bob in a soft pink (80 wt, colour DB 205)

This was a pretty little quilt, but oh, those joins! Some were OK and nice a flat shwoing that the quilt maker had butted them up correctly, but the others weren’t, meaning that some 8+ layers of fabric were jammed into one spot. I had to go around them to avoid breaking my needle and damaging my machine.

One of the fabrics in the centre and the outside border fabric was a muted poinsettia, so I used that as the inspiration for the pointed flower motifs in each block. The second border fabric was a nice muted check, so I stitched along its lines and then stitch cathedral/castle window shapes into the big border to hold it down.

I used one of my favourite threads — ‘Driftwood’ (a Fil-Tec Harmony thread) — which has a lovely variegated mix of grey, tan, beige, and other lovely colours.

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This join was nice and flat

This join was just a mess of fabric all bunched in together

Back:

Threads used

• Top: Fil-Tec Harmony ‘Driftwood’ (cotton, 40 wt, colour #14069)
• Bottom: Wonderfil Deco Bob in a soft pink (80 wt, colour DB 205)

Driftwood thread