Sunday, October 2, 2011

On the Frame - a break with I Spy

The Round Robin quilt I wrote about has been on and off the frame in the last month. Yesterday I took it off again to examine what I was doing - it's pretty hard to see the back of the quilt when it's on the machine:


This is the part I was concerned about - in the above photo, you can see I quilted a leaf and curl in every third ray from the quarter circle at lower right. In the last ray, at the bottom edge in the photo, the leaves get very tiny and I didn't like doing it and it will probably just look messy if I make the leaves any smaller. So I wanted to see what it really looks like looking at the entire thing -

Most of the lower part and borders in the second photo is not quilted, -- the lumpiness is tack-basting.

I think there will be a simpler curling motif in the narrow parts of those rays.


Picky decisions aside, I'm happy with the effect of the feathers and leaves in the rays. The special personal elements my Robin friends included in their blocks are showing up just as I hoped they would. Dorry encouraged me not to quilt this traditionally, that is, as individual blocks and sashing, even though the quilt is put together that way. This overall design is much harder to manage because I have to roll the quilt back and forth many times for these rays and fills. But it is bringing the top together and makes much better use of her careful color-wash setting.

5 comments:

Dorry said...

Here I am taking a break from what I am doing to take a look at the overall piece too. Ooh, I do like how this is looking. I can appreciate your dilemma of the scale getting smaller and smaller as it approaches the inner corner. And remember, the top took two years to be put together so extra time in being taken on and off the quilting machine is what this quilt is already used to. I had wondered what was keeping you so quiet. Is the backing the same fabric all over?

Sherrye said...

I like that Cheryl! It reminds me that on my "to do list" is a whole cloth quilt. I have always loved to look at the backs of quilts that have a solid lighter piece of fabric. It really shows off the quilting pattern! Beautiful!

Judy said...

Jimminy Crickets Cheryl!!! The quilt is looking fantastic! The scale is manageable from what I can see and the RR elements pop up with the delight you intended!! I look forward to seeing the whole quilt.
This gives I SPY a whole new look!!

Ann said...

Love the quilting and the way it fans out from the corner! Just beautiful!

Heather said...

Cheryl your quilting is just fabulous. I know you wanted to do something spectacular with the quilting on this Round Robin and it looks as though you have!