Rhonda Bracey: At Random

This was the last of the latest batch of Community Quilts, and the last done before I travel to the US on Thursday.

It was a bright ‘eye spy’ quilt and all those straight lines just told me to stitch it with a rounded motif! I went for an all-over design of very large spirals (lines about half an inch apart) in a matching yellow thread.

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

Threads used:

• Top: Fil-Tec Glide ‘Mango’ (40 wt, trilobal polyester, colour 80116)
• Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (light tan)

This brightly coloured scrappy quilt was very puffy — I think there were lots of bias edges in the blocks.

I started by stitching in the ditch with a thin Deco-Bob thread around all the large blocks and their yellow borders to stabilise the puffiness as far as possible. For the main part of each block, I stitched a large ‘wonky star‘ in yellow, with a secondary smaller wonky star inside the square made by the larger star.

My aim was to keep the geometric look of the blocks while stitching them enough to flatten out some of the puffiness.

I left all the borders and sashings unstitched.

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

Threads used:

• Top: Wonderfil Deco-Bob (80 wt, colour DB122); Fil-Tec Glide ‘Mango’ (40 wt, trilobal polyester, colour 80116)
• Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (light tan)

This quilt was made up of fairly traditional blocks and colours, so the only option was to quilt it using fairly traditional motifs.

After stitching in the ditch around every block, sashing strip, border, and applique piece, I then stitched a different design in each block.

I kept the border simple by just stitching a double straight line about half an inch from the seam and then another quarter inch out from that stitched line.

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

Threads used:

• Top: Various Wonderfil Invisifil and Deco Bob threads in lime green (IF 702), soft pink (DB 205), soft gray (DB 103), and tan (DB 414)
• Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (light tan)

This was a small scrappy quilt, made from all sorts of fabric squares. The main colour theme seemed to be a purple/pink, so I decided to  quilt it in purple. Several of the seams were uneven, so I needed to use a motif that ‘stitched them into submission’ without causing too many puckers. To counteract the squares, I decided to do a rounded motif, and chose an old favourite — swirly spirals.

I liked the end result.

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

Threads used:

• Top: Robison-Anton (40 wt, rayon, purple of some sort)
• Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (dark gray)

Another big quilt — this time for a soccer-mad kid 😉

After stitching in the ditch around the blocks to stabilise the quilt, I outline stitched the soccer balls in those blocks, using an Invisifil thread. Next, I ‘matrix’ stitched the blocks with fabric that had soccer nets behind the shoes, shirts, etc. I left the soccer balls unstitched so they ‘popped. Finally, I switched to a green thread to stitch large circles (emulating soccer balls?) in the blue, yellow, and green blocks and in the dark blue border. I left the green sashings unstitched.

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

Threads used:

• Top: Wonderfil Invisifil (100 wt, colour IF 179); Robison-Anton ‘Brite Jade’ (40 wt, rayon, colour 2514)
• Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (dark gray)