Rhonda Bracey: At Random

This was a big quilt with a lot of empty space. Each block was different but most had stars or diagonal lines, which helped me decide how to quilt the empty blocks.

First, I stitched in the ditch around each of the blocks, then around the main elements within each pieced block. To make these elements ‘pop’, I quilted the background only, in a simple smallish stipple.

To give definition to the empty blocks, I echo quilted about half to one in from the joining seam lines, then stitched a wonky 8-point star in each to stop them puffing too much. Finally, I did a large stipple in the main border and left the green framing border unstitched.

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Threads used:

• Top: Fil-Tec Glide ‘Linen’ (40 wt, trilobal polyester, colour 10WG1)
• Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (white)