The End of the Tunnel

While it seems like I’ve been quilting my sunset quilt for years, I realize it’s been only a few months in real time. Last week I finally saw the light at the end, and now I am out of the tunnel. As I wrote earlier, I have contacted the photographer whose photo I based my quilt on, but have never received a response. While I feel I can’t submit my quilt to a show or sell it, I see no reason not to show it here.

“Sunset Tangle” 26.5 inches wide by 40.5 inches high

The quilting took so long because of all the breaks in the sewing lines to skip over the “wires.” Because the quilt won’t be entered in shows, I felt free to ignore some niceties of tidy finishing. I decreased stitch length at the beginning and end of quilting lines rather than tying ends and burying knots, and I carried the bobbin thread over short skips rather than cut it.

About half the quilt is made of Vicki Welsh’s hand dyed fabric. The rest is hand painted commercial prints, curtain fabric, silk organza, and Evolon. The wires are made of Clover’s fusible bias tape. I used at least 12 thread colors in varying weights. It felt like the quilting was endless but I could certainly have done more.

Painted Evolon on lower left, hand dyed fabrics above. No idea why the colors are so different when the photos were taken a minute apart. The colors above are truer.

Detail of quilting thread colors

I spent time deciding between the more naturalistic wavy lines I used and a more stylized straight line approach that emphasized the wires. I even got my husband involved in the decision. Ultimately I decided that since I don’t plan to exhibit the quilt, a more naturalistic approach would fit in better in my house. The stylized alternative would have made the quilt more interesting for a show.

Rough sketches of quilting plans

Then, too, I would have redone the rippled quilting if this were destined for a show, but I have made my peace with it. With this one off my design wall I can return to other, long stalled projects. None should require as much quilting.

I’m linking to Off The Wall Fridays.