New Series, Watch and Learn Custom Quilting

Well to be honest with you, I have been playing with the idea of developing a subscription, or pay-to-watch sort of thing for a while.  But I don't want to.  I've learned so much from online quilting creators that I feel as though I should be giving back.  I've decided to put more effort into my custom YouTube quilting videos to add even more value with my commentary.  

Check out the full video here

With that, I don't know what more I can say about the quilting of these TWO quilt tops.  Just kidding I always have something to say about quilting 😆

Joan from Cranbrook, BC sent me these two little table toppers, one had a border and the other didn't.  When I was designing the quilting I decided that I wanted the quilts to be similar with just a couple of variations.  But once I started quilting the larger one, I realized that I had made a mistake and forgot about the difficulty imposed by the busy batik dark fabrics.  By the time I had realized my mistake I decided to just go with it as it wasn't a large project but I could rectify my misstep on the second top. 

Even in this strategically taken photo, you can't see all the work in the border piano key and the quarter circle corners.   I still do love the look of the crosshatch in the center medallion and the rest of my quilting plan.  I explain this much better in the video. 

I filled in the background area using simple pebbles, I think by varying the sizes they gave the background a beautiful texture and suited the simplicity of the design. If you are struggling with your pebbles you can try different styles of pebble fillers like pebble pop, or the double pebble filler, as these have a really natural flow to them. But ultimately you have to just keep practicing.

In this center medallion I decided to bring the curved cross-hatching back to make the composition cohesive.  Simple but effective quilting, I also added a little bit of matchstick quilting for some texture drama.  

After I finished the first quilt top I jumped right into the second.  This one had slightly easier fabrics to work with, but I decided to switch it up a bit and used the pebble pop filler. I kept my design in the flying geese the same as before but skipped the cross-hatching in the corners for some more complimentary straight lines. 

In this medallion, I decided to go with a simple curve flower using my 4" round and 2" round rulers.  I echoed the motif and filled it in with more pebble pop.  

Even though the design is simple I think the overall helps to highlight the piecework and the fabric.  I did use two layers of batting, one of 80/20 and another of higher loft poly. 

Look how great the back looks with all the stitch-in-the-ditch work.  Make sure to drop a comment on the video and let me know what you think about the Watch and Learn format.  

Sam