I do get some really unique items to quilt for clients! This one is using an entirely new technique to me. It came to me with all of the embellishment already completed, so it was completely custom quilting. The quilt had to hang around for quite a while to me before it started whispering to me. Your quilts talk to you too, right?
The quilt has six panels, each with a sugar skull with a different focus colour and fun features.
The border and sashing strips all received half inch piano keys.
The quilt is constructed by laying strips of fabric over a black base layer, and stitching down the raw edges with a decorative machine stitch. Lots of different colour of threads were used and all kinds of fun deco stitches. There are 5 different fabrics, so my quilting plan was to have one design per fabric, with the designs connected to the theme of the sugar skull fabric. The black fabric with the decorative straight strip received rows of beads. The skeleton dancers received stylized teeth - big boxy shapes. The sugar skull fabric received ferny fronds, the grey stripes got flames and teh gold sparkly fabric got ribbon candy (lots of sugar in ribbon candy, right?). All stitched in Glide "Shadow" thread - just a shade lighter than very black.
The quilt was designed by the quilter's daughter. How fun is that!
I didn't want to distract from the skulls, so these received just straight-ish line stitching and outlining the key features, in Glide "Warm Grey" thread, which is a light brownish-grey colour.
We used Hobbs 80/20 Black batting to keep the black fabrics very black.
This was the inspiration fabric - a sateen type of material, I believe it was purchased in Mexico. Many of the embellishments on the front have similar designs.
In this Covid-world, the pick up (and drop off) were contact-free. I really miss the opportunity to open up the finished quilt for the client to see their first reaction. I'm delighted that the client emailed me right after she opened up the quilt to let me know that they loved the quilting! Made my heart so happy!