bluemeadowdesigns

Dandelion

Hi there, Karen here. I have a confession to make - I'm a procrastinator. If it wasn't for the last minute, I wouldn't get anything done! Having said that, I enjoy working under pressure. Well, serious time constraints came with this quilt top! Cori may wish to tell that story another day but for the moment I'll share the inspiration for the stitching design I used for this project.

The dandelion appliqué called for echo quilting of some sort. Rather than stitch a quarter inch outside the entire shape, I copied the applique and offset it the fourth inch. This created a shadow effect. This technique is effectively used with rubber stamps.

For the remainder of the quilt, I chose a cute branch motif and flower doodle from the design elements printed in the fabric then exaggerated them to fill spaces with vertical rows of stitching.

Next time you are looking for a machine quilting design for your project, look closely at the shapes printed in the fabrics. Pick one, enlarge it and stitch it, freehand, all over your quilt connecting each motif with loopy lines or stippling.

Happy stitching!
Karen

You are not kidding, this was quite the deadline to meet and lucky for us we have a wonderful quilter who's always willing to do whatever it takes to get it done! Thanks Karen!! I think we may have had about 1 week to sew, hand applique, quilt and ship. And well the shipping is a whole other issue. We researched every possible way to get this quilt to Houston by quilt market, which was about 5 days time. From Canada that's a challenge. Again...lucky for us Karen also has some great friends and they took it with them to Wisconsin and shipped it UPS from there to the hotel where the Robert Kaufman staff were staying... ffeeww...it made it in the nick of time and it hung in their booth for International quilt market! I do think that this pattern will be available as a free download on their website. I will let you know when it's up. I hope you enjoyed Karen's quilting inspirations - we do.

~c