Crossroads

This is a quilt I made for my Grandma in 2010, at her request, as a coverlet, or a 'flimsy' as it's called in the quilting world.  I zigzagged every seam as I pieced it, with a really thin thread (to avoid thread bulk).  So, I wasn't sure how it would quilt, now that we have decided to quilt it, but those zigzags didn't bother me at all.  The first picture is before quilting, and the 2nd shows the zig zagged seams.

The pattern is called Crossroads, and it's by Allison Spence of Needleworks. 

I see the diamonds in this pattern, before I see the stars, so that's what I wanted to emphasize with the quilting.  Then I recalled advice I got at MQX last fall, to 'frame' things, and I love the look of the channels that are filled beside ones that aren't filled.   Grandma wanted fairly loose quilting, but I also wanted some practice with ruler work, so this is what she gets.  Because it's a wool batt, it still drapes very nicely and isn't stiff at all.  This is the first quilt where I've SID'd (stitch in the ditch) the whole thing...I AM getting better at it.

Then I did some line dancing and connecting curves through the stars and the paisley squares.  I LOVE the texture I got on this quilt!

oops, I can see where I mistakenly filled too many channels, and need to do some frogging (rip-it rip-it).  Can you see the one diamond corner that is flat?  That's tonights task while waiting for my daughter at her dance class.

I didn't quite have enough of the paisley left for backing, so I used this lovely wide-back, which shows the quilting off beautifully (if only it didn't show off all the wobbles as well, sigh).

Did I mention I love the texture on this quilt?  I think it's worth the hours and hours it took me!!