I finally finished my quail quilt last night ! I can’t wait to hang it in the spot I’ve decided will be just right for it. While I usually rotate which quilts are out from one season to the next, I suspect this one will stay put, simply because it’s going quite high on a wall where nothing much larger would fit, anyway, since the quilt measures about 33″ x 12.75″. 😉 I’ve wanted to get this done since I first saw the pattern offered as a class at a January retreat in Lake Havasu.
I decided not to bind this quilt, instead opting for a facing turned to the back. The free-motion quilting includes a saguaro cactus behind a couple of the chicks and some “swoopy” curves that I’d hoped would give a sort of windy feeling to the background. You can see photos of some of that and the border quilting in my previous post, but here is another bit of the “windy” look.
I put some pebbles into the area near the quails’ feet, and there are lots of straight-ish lines in the part they’re actually standing or walking along. I left most of the body of the quail unquilted so as to let them puff out from the background a bit more.
13 thoughts on “Ready to “perch””
Wonderful, beautiful quilting. So jealous that your quails are finished. I have my quail finished but since I do not do my own machine quilting, I will have to wait at least 4 months before my quilt will be ready to hang.
Thanks, Phyl! 😀 Your quilter does such beautiful work that I’m sure your quail will be worth the wait.
That’s beautiful! Wonderfully done!
Thanks so much, Lori! 🙂
Great finish! Those pebbles look great, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy this one for a long time. I have an area where I intended to swap out various quilts, but I have a favourite hanging there, and it has been in place for a long time!
Thanks, Susan. 🙂
i love it Sandy!! So much that I just bought the pattern!!
LOL! I’m glad it “spoke” to you, too, Trish! Enjoy! 🙂
This is beautiful, Sandy! Your borders came out fantastic with the ruler work. Have you tried this technique on any larger quilts, like bed size? I just got my Westalee foot and rulers but haven’t had a chance to use them yet. I had hoped to quilt a simple allover pattern like clamshells using one of the Westalee specialty rulers on my King sized pineapple log cabin quilt, but right now I’m struggling so much to do pretty basic FMQ on a Minky-backed baby quilt. It makes me wonder whether I’ll have enough control over the bulk of a King sized quilt to do ruler work successfully on all parts of the quilt. Even with the extra throat space on the 750 I find that I’m struggling and tugging more when I have a lot of quilt stuffed in the throat space or when I have a lot of quilt piled up in my lap — and every tug makes for a lurch in my quilting!
Thanks, Rebecca Grace! 🙂 I no longer make large quilts; lap-sized is about as big as I’m willing to struggle with anymore. LOL! I have, however, used the ruler foot and a curved ruler on my Moon in the Window quilt, which I posted on this blog about a month ago and which is about 54″ square. Most of that ruler work was also in the borders, but I did do some in the central area, too.
One hint I’d offer, for what it’s worth, is to make sure you’re using needle down (I’m sure you already are!). Then, when you’ve finished tugging to get things stabilized and flat for the next little bit of quilting, take only ONE stitch, pausing before going ahead, That will allow you to “back up” if you’ve lurched a little. That works pretty well for me, when I remember to do it. 😉
Your quilting is absolutely gorgeous. I love the effect created by mixing pebbles and straight lines for the ground. It also was a excellent choice to limit the quilting on the birds, I find. They are beautiful as they are.
Pinned in my Quilting Board.
Merci beaucoup, France; vous êtes trop gentille! Thanks so much, France! This is high praise from someone as talented as you. 🙂