Taupe Sampler

This quilt also belongs to client Heather T.  She called it her Taupe Sampler. 

The goal with the quilting on this top was to put something interesting in each of the settings squares and triangles, and to put a medallion type design in each of the sampler squares, and because at the time Heather didn't know where the quilt would wind up, to not make it feminine with the quilting.

So, we chose some Heavy Metal quilting for the setting blocks and triangles,

and a fern design for the blocks.  So that the quillting didn't make the quilt directional (assign a top or bottom), and to provide more movement, I placed the fern designs in all directions.

and the pieced border got continuous curve, and the outer border got ferns, to bring the design out.

I had purchased a 'grab bag' from a supplier in January, and one of the items was a Quilters Magic Wand.  It's meant to be used to draw the lines across a square when sewing half-square triangle units, but I knew exactly how I'd use it....

it's the perfect size for marking the edge of the borders to make sure the fern fronds didn't extend into the binding area.  Often a larger ruler is too wide to fit between the rails and the edge of the quilt, or it's falling off the side edges.  This little tool was perfect.

I totally love how this quilt looks from the back too.  The pieced backing adds some interest as well.

  There was recently a little discussion on a quilting forum about stitching in the ditch(SID)--it's a great tool, and it makes everything look really sharp, but sometimes, even with a custom quilting treatment such as this quilt got, it's not necessary, and, not doing the SID can make the quilting more affordable (leaving more room in the budget for doing the SID on a quilt that does need it).  Sometimes looking at the back can tell you for sure if the SID is required-- and these pictures clearly show that it wasn't necessary for this quilt. 

Having said that, you can tell, if you look closely at the left side of the above photo, that I did ditch the borders--I felt that they needed it.

The backing photos also show more clearly how the ferns face all directions.

Heather had been looking on my blog and noticed that I prefer 8" of extra length and width for loading the quilt, so she added some extra fabric to her backing, to make sure I had enough room to work---and you can see I started below her extra fabric, so it's not sewn into the project and she can remove her stitches, and that fabric is still useable for another project.    It's a great trick if you're short on that extra length or width.

And here's a before quilting photo that is at a better angle to see Heather's wonderful piecing.  If I remember correctly, they are 6" blocks.

Thanks for letting me play with your quilts Heather.