Still Waters

 



I have wanted to make a bed quilt for Daughter for ages but it took me awhile to land on an idea that I was happy with.  I finally decided to go with Smokey River from Whirligig Patterns.  I have lusted after this pattern for awhile and as I have a good stash of 2 1/2" strips of Northcott's Stonehenge fabrics this was a great way to put them to use.  I actually planned two of them, going with the blue tones for Daughter (she has incredibly gorgeous blue eyes) and I'll make a matching one for myself one day using browns and blues.

I am really pleased with how it turned out.  It has been a long project for me.  I cut and assembled the top a year ago, but then life got busy and work started back up again so it has been sitting on the back burner.  Then I wanted to get her Harry Potter lap quilt done in time for Christmas, so I've only now gotten back to working on this one.

In some ways it is a blessing that I wasn't able to get to this before now.  I set up a new quilting area in the utility side of the basement, and this is the first quilt I have worked on there.  This space is so much better to quilt in!  I have a banquet table set up to do the sandwiching which is much better on my body than doing it on the floor as well as getting the fabrics to lie smoother.  



Then I use the table to spread the quilt out on as I'm sewing.

I've got a couple of those "Magic Carpet" plastic snow toboggans to give me a smooth surface to slide the quilt around as I'm free motion quilting.  Hubby ordered and installed a really bright overhead light for me and I am working next to the south-facing windows for good daylight.  Even though it isn't finished yet my basement is comfortably warm and dry which makes it really nice to work down there.   Also I can leave things set up without worrying about anything being in the way of regular household life, and I have lots of room to spread things out.

I think this is the most time I have spent doing the actual quilting on a quilt, but it was probably also the most enjoyable as I wasn't cramped into a small space.  I was listening to audio books while working away and the time just flew by.

One of the things holding me up was I couldn't decide just how I wanted to quilt this.  I finally decided to do a straight border around the center diagonal strips, then free-motion meandered the separate squares.  I filled in the strips with a wavey line and then did diagonal ruler work in the black borders.  I finished the outside border with more meandering.

I am really pleased with the overall look of it.  The quilting design really pops on the reverse side.  I used double wide flannel for the backing which I found at Len's Mill.  This saved me from having any seams on the back side.

I've gone with the name "Still Waters".  The colours have a very water-like feel to them, and I feel the expression "still waters run deep" definitely applies to Daughter.  We are doing a visit tomorrow for oldest granddaughter's birthday so I'll be gifting it then.     








  


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