Rhonda Bracey: At Random

How to quilt this scrappy quilt made from a wide range of fabrics and colours? As usual I started by stitching in the ditch around the main blocks, then did an overlapping spiral motif using a neon orange thread. In the border, I stitched large ‘u’ shapes of various heights in a dark gray thread.

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Threads used:

• Top: Fil-Tec Glide ‘Neon Orange’ (40 wt, trilobal polyester, colour 90811); Floriani (40 wt, rayon, colour PF 487)
• Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (light tan; lead gray)

The blue in this quilt top was a denim colour, so in keeping with that theme, I used a murky blue thread for all the quilting. After stitching in the ditch around all the main elements and blocks, I kept it simple by stitching circles to counter the geometric shapes, then an outline stitch around the elements in the main quilt top. I stitched the large floral border with a large meandering stipple.

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Threads used:

• Top: Isacord (40 wt, trilobal polyester, colour Fb 3842)
• Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (lead gray)

This pretty quilt had a few issues with uneven, mismatched, and wonky seams and sashing, but I stitched in the ditch around every element, then did a medium-sized stipple in the white space to help tame it. I stitched a large petal shape inside each applique flower petal to reduce the puffiness.

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Threads used:

• Top: Fil-TEc Glide ‘White’ (40 wt, trilobal polyester, colour 10000); Fil-TEc Glide ‘Peach’ (40 wt, trilobal polyester, colour 50473);
• Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (white)

For this sea-themed quilt, I quilted free-motion wavy lines horizontally across the quilt, after stitching in the ditch around the main blocks.

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Threads used:

• Top: Floriani (40 wt, rayon, colour PF074)
• Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (lead gray)

What a cheerful quilt this was! Lots of green book worms, surrounded by white space and small bright coloured squares, and a cheery border. As usual I started by stitching in the ditch around all the main blocks, in white. Then I swapped to a lime green thread and just did a large meandering stipple across the main quilt top. I used the same thread in the border to free-motion stitch the lines there.

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Threads used:

• Top: Fil-Tec Glide ‘White’ (40 wt, trilobal polyester, colour 10000); Robison-Anton ‘Ming’ (40 wt, rayon, colour 2322)
• Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (white)

Red, white, pink/apricot, and aqua — not colours I’d think to put together, but I think they worked well in this quilt. I started by stitching in the ditch around the blocks (in red), then did a large meandering stipple in the border (also in red thread). For the main top, I stitched an ‘open headband‘ motif in a soft aqua thread.

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Threads used:

• Top: Fil-Tec Glide ‘Cardinal’ (40 wt, trilobal polyester, colour 70001); Robison-Anton ‘Sprite’ (40 wt, rayon, colour 2313)
• Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (candy apple red, white)

Someone spent a lot of time making blocks from tiny scraps — the finished squares were only about 1″. How to quilt it? As usual I started by stitching in the ditch around the main blocks and borders. Then I decided to do something simple because the scrap fabrics were so ‘busy’ — I free-motion stitched lines through the centre of each row of squares, in a checkboard pattern. I didn’t use a ruler, but even with wonky lines, the illusion is of straight lines. I left the sashing strips unquilted and did a line of straight stitching (this time with a ruler) in the border, a half inch from the seam line.

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Threads used:

• Top: Fil-Tec Glide ‘Navy’ (40 wt, trilobal polyester, colour 32965)
• Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (black)

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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Threads used:

• Top: Robison-Anton ‘Paris Blue’ (40 wt, rayon, colour 2283)
• Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (white)

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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Threads used:

• Top: Floriani (40 wt, rayon, colour PF129); Isacord (40 wt, trilobal polyester, colour Fb 6650)
• Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (candy apple red, white)

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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Threads used:

• Top: Fil-Tec Glide ‘Sea Foam’ (40 wt, trilobal polyester, colour 97494)
• Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (white)