Decisions for Deco Quilting + Stonefields Quilt "Shirtings"

Hello, quilting friends!  Another page has been ripped off the calendar and we find ourselves in the month of June, in the year 2025, which -- by the way -- remember when that was like a science fiction "way in the future" year?  (Alas, no Jetsons rocket ship cars or, my absolute favorite, the automated conveyor belt closet that gets you showered and dressed for your day while you are still sleeping...)

Okay, so my Tuesday To Do is going to be super light this week.  Mom has declined significantly since we moved her to Austin a month ago.  Her lung cancer has spread to her brain and she is barely eating anything.  Home hospice began May 27th and I'm flying out to see her tomorrow.  If I get any hand stitching prepped today, I'll bring it with me, but it's already 2:30 PM and here I am yet again, writing a blog post instead of actually handling fabric.  Why?  Because I've made some design decisions that I want to record while they are fresh in my mind.

Next On My Long Arm: Deco Quilt for Custom Quilting

Now that I've finished custom quilting that vintage sampler for my friend Marybeth, my long arm frame is open and available for the Deco quilt top I finished in March.  While I'm not in a huge rush to dive into another custom quilting project, I've wasted invested a lot of time over the past week thinking about how I want to quilt it once I'm ready.  

My Deco Quilt Top With My Anna Maria Floral Print Backing Fabric

My Deco needs to be custom quilted because the whole reason I was drawn to the pattern in the first place was that I thought it had great possibilities for custom quilting.  That's what drew me to the Building Blocks Sampler quilt that I (typically) overcomplicated and dragged out over too many years, too.  Once I finally got the Building Blocks/Nanu! Nanu! quilt top finished, I quilted it with an allover meander to just get it done and on the bed already, and now I kind of regret that I didn't set it aside until I had the time and "bandwidth" necessary to see my original vision through to the custom-quilted conclusion.  So, Custom Quilting will happen for Deco, or else no quilting will happen at all.  The quilting will combine digital computerized designs with hand guided ruler work and SID (stitch in the ditch) quilting.

I looked through hundreds of different digital designs before settling on this Jeweled Feathers "Little Sister" design set from Anne Bright.  What I love about Anne Bright's Little Sister sets is that she always has an assortment of related designs for the different shapes and sizes in a real quilt top.  

Anne Bright's Jeweled Feathers Little Sister Design Set

I'll be using the Jeweled Feathers 8W block in all of my full 8" alternate blocks, with Jeweled Feathers Quad in all the side setting triangles and Jeweled Feathers Double for my corner triangles.  

Worth Finishing: Marybeth's circa 1984 Hand Pieced Sampler, Custom Quilted by Yours Truly

Good morning, friends!  I am shocked to be able to share this finish with you today, because I was fiercely procrastinating coming back to it.  I decided to load it up on the frame, fire up the long arm machine and JUST DO IT.  Behold, my friend Marybeth's oldest UFO, a hand pieced sampler quilt that she started in 1984 for her (now adult) son's "Big Boy Bed."  When Marybeth showed me the blocks a year or two ago I begged her to finish the project and promised that, if she put the blocks into a quilt top, I would custom quilt it for her.

Marybeth's circa 1984 Sampler Quilt, Custom Quilting Completed

Not gonna lie; this project was a challenge for me.  I've quilted hundreds and hundreds of quilts with edge to edge, allover quilting, but less than a dozen custom quilts on my long arm machine.  This one was a combination of digital computerized designs, hand guided ruler work quilting, and free motion quilting, and I quickly realized that I have a lot to learn when it comes to quilting computerized designs in borders and sashing.  Knowing that this quilt was really special to Marybeth and irreplaceable, I got into my own head too much with the Analysis Paralysis...  I am ashamed to confess that I have had this quilt for EIGHT MONTHS before finally finishing it and sending it back to Marybeth!

Wish I'd Used More Contrasting Thread

I've got a lot of Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda notes for this quilt.  Like, I wish I'd used the pale straw yellow thread in that green dotted fabric patch in the photo above, so you could see the quilting motifs in the "lawn" patch.  I wish I'd done a better job of keeping the amount of quilting more consistent throughout the quilt, too -- notice how the quilting lines in the red and blue block below the house are so much farther apart than in the house block, for instance.  If this had been my own quilt, I would have gone back in and added more quilting to the red and blue block to solve that issue, but I know that Marybeth prefers the look and feel of LESS quilting and I'm already worried that I may have "overquilted" it for her preferences.