Alternate Routes

This is the quilt my sister and I made for a wedding gift for our brother and new sister-in-law.  Hmm, just noticed the toes now...ooops.


The pattern is Alternate Routes by Highway 10 designs, and we chose this quilt to make because 1) the title is great for a marriage, 2) two fabrics sounded fun and 3) lots of layout choices--more on that in the next post.  I really enjoy the Highway 10 patterns.  I have one more of their patterns pieced and need to quilt.

 My sister lives in Ontario but she was in Alberta last summer for a few weeks, so we pieced the blocks then.  We set my sewing machine up on our Dad's front porch (screened in so we didn't worry about mosquitoes) she sewed, I cut and pressed, the kids helped with some pressing, and it was a whole family affair to pick out this layout.
 
And then this winter I started on my quilting--I picked a somewhat labour intensive design, and in the right light, it sure looks cool.  

So here I'm starting, and this is before I decided I had to SID (stitch in the ditch) around the light triangles (which basically meant around all the pieces).  I was hoping to get away without, and if there had been a quilting budget, it would have been fine without, but I thought it was needed.

 and here you can see why I chose to SID...it sure looks crisper.  I found a continuous path across the quilt, so that was a win.  Aside from the SID, the quilting all added curves, to soften all the angles in this quilt.

 When we were playing with layouts, we really liked the layouts that had a 'medallion' in the center, so I wanted to highlight that medallion with the quilting and make it the focus...and so I designed that first, and the rest, really, is just a repetition of what is happening in the center. I did change threads for the very center, again, to subtly help that stand out with a darker thread...and my SIL noticed! 

 

 I like how the design radiates around the top of the medallion area as well.

 and if the lights not right (as above) the quilting just fades away, but it shows nicely on the back.

Here's an unquilted photo for comparison

I definitely think I will make this pattern again...or maybe I'll just have a friend make it, because I sure have ideas about quilting.