I have chosen to do a triple cable border on this quilt because the quilting density would be just right to match the center of the quilt. The stencil is very simple and traditional, which matches the personality of this quilt. 

The most difficult part of executing this pattern is where I have to travel over previous stitching on the long curves. I have to meet up with the backtracking of the shorter curves exactly on these long curves. So my main focus is to stitch right down the very center of the chalk lines of the stencil.

Here is the diagram I've made to keep myself on track:

And here is how it's been turning out:

Now... if you bore easily you might want to leave (if you haven't already). I'm going to show how I turned this quilt so that I could finish the last two borders... 

Since stitching in a nice, continuous line from side to side is more beautiful and I do it whenever I can, I like to turn the quilt after the top and bottom borders have been stitched. That way the side borders become the top and bottom borders, and get quilted from side to side.

But before I turned this quilt, I set my horizontal channel lock and stitched a straight line across the bottom of the backing fabric. This was so I could cut it down to a manageable size. That long bottom edge will become a side edge when the quilt is turned:

I removed the hundreds of pins that were holding this quilt on to the leaders, and flipped the quilt over the back of the machine table. I cut right outside of the stitching line to make the edge look like this:

I turned the quilt so that the unfinished borders were now facing top and bottom instead of on the sides. I loaded the quilt as if I was loading a backing:

While I had the quilt laying on the machine, it was fun to see how the quilt looked almost finished! There won't be a lot more quilting on it so I'm happy with how it looks so far:

I'm still not sure if I can do anymore quilting in the blocks. The spacing of the heart appliques is ultimately calling the shots. So I may be leaving the block with only the feather motif and the SID hearts. I really won't know until the borders and small cornerstones in the sashing are completely quilted. Since I'm using Hobbs 80/20 batting, I can leave the blocks more open because the batting has a nice loft to it to fill in empty spaces.

Today's post = Yesterday's post + 17. This has been the work of my day. All day. Times seventeen:

And, a close-up of one:

The SID around the hearts is done with YLI Soft Touch thread. Normally I use YLI clear nylon thread to SID around applique. But the muslin is fragile so I chose to use cotton thread instead. I lowered my pick-up bar and slowly stitched around each heart. My goal was to stitch along the outer edge of the applique but not in or on the applique floss. The heart below has been finished, can you see the SID stitches? If you have a difficult time seeing them, I did my job.

Five more blocks and then I'm on to the border!

I've spent the majority of this week stabilizing this vintage applique quilt, and today I was able to begin the fun part. Here is the first completed feather motif:

The importance of centering the stencil is quite obvious in the next block. Each of the 25 appliqued blocks has four hearts which may or may not be balanced in the block:

In order to achieve a perfectly centered feather in each block, I first use my Designs with Lines Basic 8 stencil to mark a few purple lines:

I line up my Feather Square #SF67 stencil to match the purple lines:

The feathers in the center line up with the purple marks in the center. And, the outer long feathers line up with the purple marks on the outer edges:

To make a perfect circle for the feathers to follow, I use my Longarm University acrylic circle template, matching up the lines on the template with the purple lines on the fabric:

I'm very happy with the YLI Soft Touch thread. It backtracks very nicely without too much thread build-up:

The tiny dark dot in the center of the completed feather is actually a fabric stain. The old muslin in this quilt has several stains on it from being in storage, etc. I'm hoping I don't have to do much more to the muslin than a feather motif and SID around the hearts. It's delicate and kind of brittle, so I want to be very careful.

Three completed!! Only 22 more to go!!

Before I sent this Opportunity Quilt off to be bound, I got some pictures of the texture created by the "Random Baptist Clams". The Log Cabin piecing on this quilt had narrow white bars and wider blue bars. The pantograph had narrow arcs and wider arcs. Which in my mind made them perfect for each other.

Next up is this large quilt using vintage blocks of muslin that are appliqued with hearts: 

My customer has requested feathered wreaths in the center of each block. I've chosen this stencil because it fits into the space in the center as well as reaching slightly into the areas between the hearts:

The result should be a more evenly-quilted center than if I used a completely circular design. The hearts are not perfectly spaced in each block, so I want to use a stencil that will not accentuate that.

The thread choice for this one was very simple: YLI Soft Touch 60 wt. cotton in "Natural". The bobbin is the same. I chose this thread because I know I'll be backtracking in that feather design. Soft Touch allows me to do that without a clunky-looking build-up of thread. 

So far the tension is very nice on both sides. I've lubricated the thread because it appears to have tiny little burrs here and there. I can feel them when I pull the thread between my fingers. It hasn't affected the stitch quality, but it bothers me. So, I lubricate.

I received this Opportunity Quilt from my guild and it's on the rack right now. It has been impeccably pieced by one of my customers. The log cabin bars are perfectly pieced and pressed. Many of the fabrics have an asian, contemporary look. My initial vision for the quilting design involved freehand feathers or leaves in the white curvy areas and SID in the blue areas. But because of various circumstances, a pantograph was requested as the best choice.  

Across those lovely bars I just could not justify quilting a lot of random designs. Pantographs usually have uneven open spaces which tend to drive me crazy. But my customers don't mind at all. And that's who I work for. But with this amazing workmanship above, I wanted something right. I wanted to pick up on the asian contemporary feel of the fabrics. 

Lo and behold I find this pantograph that was in my supply but had been buried for several months, unnoticed:

Just last week I finished a traditional quilt using a traditional Baptist Fan pantograph called "Continuous Baptist Fan". It suited that quilt perfectly. But now I was intrigued by the asian feel of this newly-found pantograph "Random Baptist Clams" by Jessica Schick. It's a nice, large size - 13 inches - and it's interlocking, which is my favorite kind of design because it doesn't look "row-y" when it's quilted out.

But something inside me felt like being more daring. I was more than willing to downgrade this Opportunity Quilt to a pantograph, but if only I could add some bling:

That's when I remembered my metallic thread stash that I've been hoarding for a future rogue endeavor, that never seemed to come. Until now...

Convinced of my new vision of silver metallic thread coupled with the Random Baptist Clams design, I was not going to talk myself out of it. I could see it in my sleep and it was perfect. My only fear was that my guild would not like it and that nobody would buy tickets and that my reputation would be flushed down the toilet.

Willing to lose it all, I loaded up the wonderfully yummy Superior Metallic silver thread in my top spool holder and loosened the tension a bit in the white tensioner. I installed a 4.0 needle and set my SPI to 10. 

For the bobbin I chose Magna-Glide classic prewounds and adjusted my bobbin case a little bit tighter than normal. With a couple of small adjustments, the day was a success and I was giddy by the end of it.

Here are some shots of yesterday's fun. Clicking on the picture will show a bit of the twinkle of the thread:

I'm in love with this combination and I can't wait to see how the quilting design compliments the log cabin design. 

And, I can't wait to use more metallic thread on more quilts!

This quilt has been delivered to its owner, but I wanted to show how it turned out. I love how the pantograph design added curvy texture to the front:

And to the back:

Which reminds me, here is a close-up shot of the backing fabric with the minty-colored Aurifil thread I used in the bobbin:

Yesterday I completed this large table runner. I quilted a freehand leafy feather in the border:

I used a teardrop acrylic template to make the designs through the center, after stitching in the ditch in each seam:

As fun and rewarding as this table topper was to quilt, the star of this experience turned out to be a new thread I tried. It's called "Hemingworth PolySelect" Take a look at this:

While shopping at Sue Mezera's Quilt Shop in Southern California over the Christmas holiday, I saw that she had hundreds of colors of this shimmery thread. What struck me was the plastic cover! I don't know about you, but my threads get so dried out and dusty because they're all on wall racks.

This color, "Ginger Root", was so perfect for the table topper that I had to give it a try. So I paired it up with Aurifil 40 wt. cotton in the top (#5001). The tension was wonderful throughout, with just a few issues that were fixable. I used a 4.0 needle and set my SPI to 10. I am going to find out how to get more of this thread. Today! Thanks Sue Mezera. I loved your shop!

I decided to go with my gut (and some helpful input), and have begun using "Bountiful Feathers" by Lorien Quilting for this pretty quilt. I fell in love with it as soon as I had enough thread laid down to see the texture. It's got a full 13.5 inches per row of coverage, which means that the quilt gets rolled less as I work towards the end. And less time wasted on rolling, basting, adjusting, tying off threads and re-aligning means my time is spent more profitably.

The cone on the left is Madeira Polyneon variegated polyester thread in color #1603 ("Spring"). I paired it with Aurifil 40 wt. cotton #2843 in the bobbin. The tension has been absolutely perfect so far. When the light is better in the studio tomorrow I'll see if I can capture the backing of this quilt. It's beautiful! 

I'm not sure if you can see the shimmery quality of this thread, but it's looking so good as it crosses the many colors in the quilt top. That's why it's one of my all-time favorite threads.

Thankfully, I had the perfect quilt to try this pantograph on. I adore feathers. Feather stencils, feather pantographs, freehand feathers... I never get tired of them. 

Today I was able to finish this shirt quilt and move on to the next quilt in the queue. I love how the Baptist Fans turned out. My customer wanted to see the various fabrics quilted down evenly, since there were old pajama fabrics mixed in with wool fabrics. The seams were questionable and she wanted them to be camouflaged. I think this pantograph really got the job done.

To top it all off, it was one of those rare days when the bobbin and the top thread harmoniously meshed together all the way to the very end of the quilt. I was pretty surprised to see this: 

This pretty quilt is up next, and I'm trying to decide which pantograph to use on it. I'd like to stay with a not-so-dense pattern. And I'd like to not have too much going on with the quilting design. I'm going to be using a shimmery variegated Madiera Polyneon thread:

Here are the pantograph contenders:  

"Simply"

"Drunken Feathers"

"Bountiful Feathers"

"Bird of Paradise"

I love "Dazzle" and would use it in a heartbeat. But the design seems rather large for the size of this quilt:

"Dazzle"

Do any of these inspire you?