Challenge 2017/18 - # 41, Hoffman Dream Big - Tide Pool

I've been busy.

In January I went to the Handi Quilter head office for National Educator training in Salt Lake City. We had a great time getting to know each other better and learning from the Studio Educators and one another. We had a bit of show and tell. We had been challenged to quilt ice dyed panels that we had been given at 2016's educator training. I blogged about my efforts here.

In addition to these quilts we were showing, some of us brought other quilts to show. Kelly Ashton showed a Hoffman Dream Big panel that she had quilted. We were all in awe and many of us have since quilted our own. Here's the store of my first attempt.

I knew one store in Calgary carried the prints. I knew there were lots of colour choices. So I sent hubby down to visit Along Came Quilting to pick a panel for me. He chose the Tide Pool panel for me and has since laid claim to it for his office!

I loaded the quilt with a poly/cotton blend batting with 2 layers of wool batting on top. I knew this would be a wallhanging, so didn't have to worry about drape.

I started by basting all layers together working from the top to the bottom of the quilt. I could then moved up and down the quilt to work in a variety of areas as required. I snipped and pulled the basting threads as I got to each area. I quilted around each petal with a double stitching line about 1/4" apart. I used WonderFil DecoBob (#103) for the bobbin thread and needle thread to do my outlining.

I laid some Preview Paper over the quilt to "play" with some quilting designs before I committed myself to quilting all those petals.

I also pulled out any and all threads that might work and whittled down to a few threads to use in the quilt.

I quilted the very centre with Superior Thread's Masterpiece (113).

I then worked my way around the quilt and quilted the inner petals with a double thread. I used Superior's Fantastico (5119) and Omni (9036). I really like combining a variegated thread with a solid. The colour change is very subtle.