I'm so tickled with the first finish of 2024! This beauty is a product of a workshop with Audrey Esary (Cotton & Bourbon), hosted by the London Modern Quilt Guild this past November.
This is a paper piecing project! Those amazing inner striped arcs are paper pieced curves.
Audrey's original quilt for was a bit in its scrappier fabric placement. I wanted the effect of the colour washing from the inner quarter circle through the striped curve, so those two fabrics are the same in each quarter.
The outer arcs are a bit more random and improv feeling fabric selections.
For the quilting, I stitched a straight line grid on my Innova M28, with the belts locked to keep the lines straight. Some areas are quilted more densely (1/4" grid) and some a bit less dense (1/2").
The quilting thread is all Hab 'n Dash Glide, in Lavendar, Lemon, Papaya and Peacock. The bobbin is Glide white #60 throughout. Each colour quilted a quarter of the quilt. I love the layer of colour the thread adds, and the interplay of the fabric and thread colours.
The batting is Hobbs 80% cotton 20% wool. The cotton gives it stability and the wool gives it a bit of cushiness, even quilted this densely.
I'm thrilled with this finish! Some favourite colours and fabrics - that Kona Crush is a zinger!
Love the red dots.
The backing is a Benartex wide back, Peacock Flourish. I love its movement and colours. This 60" x 60" quilt has +114K stitches and took about 6 hours to quilt. I did take the quilt off after the first round of quilting, turn it and reload so that all quilting was just horizontal lines. Reloading to get the quilt perfectly square is very tricky!! Quilting straight lines is also tricky - fabric just moves!