Wednesday 4 July 2012

Comet - progress II -

Now that I can start doing a bit of sewing for myself again I am wasting no time making progress on my precious Oakshott Comet quilt (previous post here and here) and I have to get a move on literally if I want this beauty finished and ready to be presented for 'show and tell' at to the LMQG meeting this coming Sunday. The quilt is the the result of our July challenge (which was to make something that is inspired by modern art).

A good job then that Murray just managed to win in 4 sets so I can actually get some quilting done tonight.

Comet has a back (that I won't reveal just yet) and is basted as you can see.


I pondered long and hard on the quilting pattern and was for a long time convinced that I would eco quilt along the red squares.But when I drew an outline of it on paper and found that it reminded me of a cathedral window which doesn't really work for the comet theme.

Then I changed tack to concentric circles starting in the middle square which would fit nicely with the comet approaching and would also fit very well with the back (little hint here).

But then I saw yesterday a post from Angela where she showed a quilt she quilted from Cherry House for the book 'We Love Colour' and I thought straight lines radiating from the center would fit even better with my comet and universe theme that is going on here. (By the way did you know that the Higgs boson was found today at Cern ? I think that is soooo exciting !)
So I decided to quilt this pattern and started by using my large ruler to draw some initial lines on the first quadrant of the quilt with white chalk. I am hoping that I then have enough guides to fill in the lines in between. Then I will draw new lines for the second quadrant and so on. This is the first time I am doing this and am rather nervous as it will be quite disastrous if it won't work out.


I am also terribly exciting about my quilting thread. I am going to use for the first time Valdani hand dyed variegated thread. I know that Mari uses it a lot and have been very impressed by the colours. I wanted something really special for this quilt and found two variegated tones in red that are just perfect.

Have a look, don't they just look fabulous ?


The one to the left is 'Vibrant Red' and the one to the right is 'Red Eclipse'. They are a 35 w which makes them a little heavier than my usual 30 w. It will be interesting to see how my trusted Janome Horizon deals with it.

I ordered them in Germany at this shop but tried two online shops here in the UK first and while both web pages of the shops told me they had them in stock, neither did in the end which made me very cross. I do think stock should always be up-to-date. Just a little rant.


Let the quilting begin !!




16 comments:

  1. The quilting is going to be great - I love this quilt and I really want to see the back! Not fair!

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  2. Love the idea you have decided for quilting! And the threads look great too-even the name of Red Eclipse fits with your theme!

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  3. Oh wowza... The quilt top looks awesome, but your quilting pattern and that beautiful thread!! Its going to look wonderful!

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  4. This looks amazing, good luck with the quilting!

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  5. Wow. I can't wait to see the quilting. Di x

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  6. Excited to see how this turns out, looks great so far!

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  7. This looks amazing! I love Oaksott cottons! :) Can"t wait to see it quilted!

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  8. It's looking fabulous...and yes there's nothing like that Valdani thread.

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  9. Very much looking forward to the finish of this. It's looking fab already!

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  10. The quilting plan is great, you will do a wonderful job with it (I have that book). And the threads are perfect. My horizon has no issue with the Valdani threads, I use a 90/14 topstitch needle with them. And I order directly from the Valdani website, I expect you could too.

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  11. I'm so excited about your quilting plan - please finish soon so we can see it!!!

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  12. I am always finding myself hesitant on what quilting design to use for quilting too. Sometimes you really have to let go though and do it right?!

    I adore the thread colors you have picked. I can't wait to see them on the quilt:)

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  13. Love your quilting design J. This quilt is going to be fabulous, esp. with those sumptuous threads! Looking forward to seeing the finished comet! Jxo

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  14. OH!!! I can not wait to see this all quilted!!!!

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  15. Looks awesome! Good luck with the quilting :)
    Susanne

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Thank you for your comments! I love reading them and will answer every question you have on my projects. But I have a very busy daytime job and am therefore not able to thank each and every comment. Please don't be offended if I won't reply.