Friday, January 8, 2016

Mexican Tiles Quilt

Just in time for last fall's Quilt Market, I quilted this quilt for Cloud9 Fabrics. I'm really proud of it and excited to share it today!

 The top was pieced by the Cloud9 Fabrics team.

This is Michelle Engel Bencsko's free Mexican Tiles pattern, made up in Rain Walk by Anna Graham and coordinating Cirrus Solids. I recently used these prints in my Primary Improv Rainbow quilt, and though I rarely make quilts out of the same fabrics, this time it was an absolute pleasure.

At first, Cloud9 asked me to quilt mandalas akin to those on my Oakshott Scandinavia Log Cabin quilt/table topper. However, the deadline was close, so it wasn't feasible. Undeterred, I went flipping through the ever-trustworthy Shape By Shape Quilting by Angela Walters for hexagon or circle motifs. 


Lo and behold, I found an echo teardrop design for the prints that would perfectly compliment an angular spiral in all the solid fabrics. It was a BLAST to quilt, and it made me secretly want to start a snowball or hexagon quilt just so I could quilt it. Not strange, right?


The diamonds are densely quilted with Aurifil #2600 (Dove), my go-to quilting thread. This shade pops on the fabric (show off that quilting!) but it's a soft pop. I used a light tan thread (I believe #2326) for the hexagons. By the way, I'm not sponsored by Aurifil; I just love their product.


We had to take quick photos before I popped it back in the mail for the deadline (and it was windy that day, clearly - the quilt IS straight in real life!). Those hexagons have a movement of their own! Quilt it to life, right? You can see the movement of the quilting motifs on the back, too:

 This is one of my favorite prints from Rain Walk: Reflect in Blue.

I'm honored to receive commissions from companies and private clients, and I was thoroughly pleased/shocked when I was asked to quilt this already-pieced quilt. Why? Because I use a domestic machine. I could be wrong, but most company samples are quilted on long arms; it's faster after all. I've quilted many a quilt but it never occurred to me to solely quilt for commission on my domestic. Thanks to Cloud9 for entrusting me with your samples once again!

All in all, you may have noticed that some changes happening here on the blog (check out my new About page, for instance). I'm putting forth my best effort as a quilting professional. All exciting things!

8 comments:

  1. Wonderful quilting and on a domestic machine too! Definitely a finish to celebrate :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. So pretty! I want to pick your brain some time about how you approach the quilting process. Do you stop after each hexagon and each diamond? I'm assuming you do all of the diamonds at once and all of the hexagons at once?

    ReplyDelete
  3. How wonderful that Cloud9 reached out to you and had you quilt this for them. It is lovely and yes!!! #QuiltTheLifeIntoIt

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like the way you quilted it. Adds a lot of interest.

    ReplyDelete
  5. So perhaps my less than stellar quilting is more about the operator and less about my machine? Well, you inspire me to get back in there and practice. Always love seeing what fresh take you have on things.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yay! Congrats on the commissions and great job with the quilting, Jess! I'm not at all surprised they came your way for the quilting -- you do beautiful work!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great choice of quilting! Adds nice texture without distracting from the quilt pattern and the fabric.

    ReplyDelete

Let's start a conversation! I love comments and I'd be happy to reply to all who have an email address accessible. Thanks for commenting!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...