A Quilting Conundrum

How to quilt a quilt is always a conundrum for me and making the decision is time consuming.  I don't believe that all quilts deserve the same quilting treatment.  What's great for one, may not work for another.  When making a quilting decision I consider my skills, my budget, how the quilt will be used, what I like (you'll probably never see feathers on one of my quilts), the time I want to put into the quilt and of course the design of the quilt. All those things have to come together before I proceed.


This quilt was a bit easier than most of my other quilts because of Sheryl.  Like Angela, who has done amazing work, Sheryl is creative and is willing to step outside the box with me.

Sheryl quilted this quilt because she wanted to.  Within seconds of me posting the first block, I received an email from Sheryl and she said, "If ever a quilt had my name on it this one is it, soooooo...." Then the email flowed out with idea after idea.


If there was a match between a quilter and a quilt this is it.  Sheryl was an engineering tech, worked on bridges and she is as passionate about this quilt as I am.  I told her that day that the quilt was hers to make magic with.

After the top was complete she and I talked and discussed her previous ideas and what might be best for the quilt.  Like Angela, Sheryl was focused on what would make the piecing and the overall look of the quilt shine.  For me, that's the key ingredient of a wonderful longarm quilter.

Sheryl heard my message of simplicity.  She and I are both inspired by the work of Yoshiko Jinzenji and we went with that inspiration as well as the idea of including words.  Sheryl suggested technical bridge construction terms.  We ended up going with words that encompass the purpose of bridges, span, passage and connect.  Those three words gave the quilt a more personal connection for me.  Sheryl suggested placing Kansas City on one side of the quilt and Chicago on the other, giving the bridge blocks something to connect.  The words are formed by their lack of quilting which makes them so subtle.  They draw you in for a closer look.

The quilt is quilted with matchstick quilting in cream thread.  The lines are about 1/8" apart.  I'm sure the pictures don't do it justice.  I'll try and get some good shots when it's all done.  The texture that it creates is amazing.  Within those matchstick lines Sheryl created a subtle shading with single lines of light blue thread that run at intervals vertically down the quilt.  The blue threads give the quilt a depth that it needed. It's a little detail that makes a world of difference.


For those of you who asked, blocking is a process that helps make a quilt square and true and hang straight.  It's not typically done on quilts for casual use.  It's often done on art quilts or quilts that will be hung.  I've found that densely quilted quilts need to be blocked.  They tend to get bent out of shape under all that quilting.  This is the process I use in case you want to know more about it.  


Despite the extremely dense quilting, the quilt still has a wonderful drape.  That surprised me.  The quilt is dry from the blocking process and I'm on to binding.  Full reveal is coming soon.