Graffiti Quilting on Jan's Bear Tracks Quilt + DIY Bernina Mastery Classes

HAPPY FALL, everyone!  Time to get snuggly with this wool-batted bear paw quilt made with beautiful jewel-toned batik fabrics!

Graffiti 13 E2E on Jan's 69 x 69 Bear Tracks Quilt

Jan used the Bear Tracks Quilt pattern from Island Batik Ambassador Jackie O'Brien, available as a FREE PDF download on her web site here.  When Jan brought this quilt top to me for quilting, she had seen pictures of the bear paw quilt "Color Outside the Lines" I made a couple years ago that I quilted with one of Karlee Porters digital Graffiti edge-to-edge designs, and Jan requested something similar for her quilt.

Graffiti 13 E2E with Fantastico Variegated Thread, Color Molokini

For an even bolder impact on Jan's quilt, we chose Superior's Fantastico variegated trilobal polyester thread in color Molokini (this post contains affiliate links).  On my own bear paw quilt, I'd used a very thin, 60 weight thread in a pale silvery color that blended and disappeared into my fabrics.  One isn't better than the other, but they give very different looks.

Cheryl's Modern Double Wedding Ring Quilt, Final Reveal

Good morning, quilters!  I need to stop giving "sneak peeks" of customer quilts on the blog because I keep forgetting to follow up and show you the whole thing once the quilt has been delivered to its owner.  Take this stunning modern Double Wedding Ring quilt made by my client Cheryl -- I couldn't resist including a teaser close up shot of the quilting back in July, but then I never got around to showing you the whole thing.  Well, here it is in all of its magnificence and glory!

Cheryl's 98 x 122 Modern Double Wedding Ring Quilt, Pattern by Tara Faughnan

I actually can't show you a photo of the entire quilt, because it was too large for me to get the whole thing in the camera frame.  This king size quilt measured a whopping 98" x 122" -- that was a LOT of curved piecing, y'all, and Cheryl did a fantastic job.  She used Tara Faughnan's Double Wedding Ring pattern and Cherrywood hand dyed solid fabrics.  (This post contains affiliate links). 

Detail of Roller Coaster Ties Quilting in YLI 40 Tex Cotton Variegated Pastels

Sometimes the perfect quilting design is really simple, like this Roller Coaster Ties design.  It's a similar effect to the "just-straight-lines" quilting that we see on so many modern quilts, but that subtle wavy movement is a wonderful complement to the curved piecing and I love the way the quilting moves the viewer's eye across the surface of the quilt without upstaging the piecing design.