I think was my first tumbling blocks quilt! I started by stitching in the ditch around the borders and across some of the blocks, following the seam lines. Then I did a cathedral windows motif in the diamond shapes, in a pale blue thread.
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How to quilt this small quilt, which had all sorts of elements — appliqued pieces, pieced blocks, etc. — in it? I started by stitching in the ditch around all the main elements, then did some straight stitching in the centre block, some free-motion curved lines in the curved applique pieces and in the border, some stippling in the white space, and some cathedral windows in the corner blocks. I left the remainder unquilted.
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I went on a four-day quilting retreat with friends in February, and made six quilt tops. One was mostly done — I just had to lay it out and add the connecting pieces — but the other five I made from scratch using the pattern I created for the second pink quilt top for the McGrath Foundation: https://rhondabracey.com/2018/01/31/pink-quilts-for-donating-to-the-mcgrath-foundation/
For two of them, I used my own Asian-style fabrics and I’ll post pics of them later, once I’ve finished binding them. (see https://rhondabracey.com/2018/03/17/blue-grey-and-gold-asian-style-quilt/ and https://rhondabracey.com/2018/03/17/red-and-gold-asian-style-quilt/). The other was a Christmas tree quilt: https://rhondabracey.com/2018/03/17/christmas-tree-quilt/
For the other three, I used fabrics from the Community Quilt (CQ) fabric stash that my friend who hosts us has in her house. The CQ people are always wanting quilts suitable for males (i.e. not pink and floral!), so I raided her fairly large stash of plaids and darker-toned fabrics to make two of the tops. For the third, I found some bright yellows, greens, and blues, and made the final top (Update: I got to quilt this one too!). All have now been donated to the CQ program for finishing off and delivering to charitable causes.
For the first top, I used some denim and orange/red fabrics from my own stash, and added more blues and white shirting fabrics from the CQ fabric stash.
For the second, I used more denim and some plaids from the CQ stash.
For the final top, I used fabrics from the CQ stash in yellows, blues, and greens, with some splashes of orange.
This big quilt had all sorts of Australian birds on it — budgerigars, fairy wrens, and I think even some parrots. I started by stitching in the ditch around all main elements of the quilt, then did an open headband motif in the main top, finishing with uneven ‘n’ shapes in the border.
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This quilt was very similar (the same as?) quilt #358 I did a few weeks ago. But this time I stitched large curves inside the blocks (using a soft mint green thread), with the overall result looking like some large flowers. In the border, I stitched half cathedral windows. No rulers.
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How to quilt this sunny applique quilt? Well, first I stitched in the ditch around all the blocks and the main applique elements, then did an echo stitch around each applique motif, followed by a medium stipple. I stitched ribbon candy in the yellow border and left the green border unquilted.
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Someone had fun making a jelly roll race quilt top! Again, lots of busy fabrics in a wide variety of colours so a simple stipple was all that was required.
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The busy-ness of the floral fabric lent itself to something simple in those blocks, so I opted for a free-motion ‘flower’, with a large meandering stipple in the border. I left the white blocks unquilted except for stitching around each of the embroidered flowers.
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What a bright, scrappy quilt! How to quilt it? The fabrics and the design was so busy that I decided on an all-over edge-to-edge motif — squared off open headbands. I used a neon orange thread to pick up the oranges in the scrappy fabrics and to contrast with the deep blue.
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This quilt came all done except for the quilting — it was bound with those lovely prairie points, so all I had to do was quilt it. As usual, I started by stitching in the ditch around all the main elements and the applique pieces to stabilise the quilt. Then I did a meandering stipple in the backgrounds of the outer blocks (with a large stipple in the border, in blue thread), and vertical wonky lines (no rulers) in the backgrounds of the centre blocks. To keep the edge detail in place and prevent it from folding backwards or forwards, I topstitched about a quarter inch from the edge.
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Rhonda Bracey: At Random 