Bloomin' Quiltin'

Like every quilter - or so I keep telling myself - I stew and fret about choosing just the right FMQing designs. Wanting to put thoughtful, quality quilting into Bloom, I'm going through the typical, challenging process of deciding what to quilt where.

It was easy to start quilting because every bloom needs to be appli-quilted along its outside edges. I'm appli-quilting with 50-weight Aurifil in the same color as the bloom. In the bobbin is white, 60-weight Bottomline.

I've known exactly what I wanted to quilt around each bloom - these concentric rings. I'm matching the quilting thread color to the bloom color. Now, I'm almost done appli-quilting and quilting around each bloom, using about eight different thread colors for the 15 blooms. 

By the way, for those who wanted to know... the wool batt, layered using 505 Spray and Fix aerosol adhesive, is working wonderfully! Nothing is shifting, even though I've been moving this quilt around a whole lot. 

When the blooms are appliquéd and quilted... well, to be honest, I'm stumped as to what to quilt next. The past three days have been about trying to figure that out - looking through several favorite FMQ blogs, and Flickr pages. A couple days ago I remembered something blog friend Lyn (WhataHootQuilts) shared about creating quilting designs, and I hurried out Home Depot and Sam's Club to buy supplies.

A FMQ Design Tool
From Home Depot I bought this 18" X 24", .093"-thick sheet of clear lucite. It cost $10.49. At Sam's Club I bought a set of 12 Expo dry erase markers, an eraser, and white board cleaner for $12. I edged the lucite with silver duct tape.

Then, I put the lucite sheet on top of the quilt, and drew quilting designs.

Though my drawings are rough, the process has been helping me at least decide what I don't want to quilt! Nope, I haven't yet landed on the just-right design. But this new tool is sure giving me a better perspective on quilting possibilities. I expect to use this tool a lot.

A Little More Info
1) Lucite sheets come in several sizes, so you can choose the one that suits your needs. Lyn has a really big sheet that she uses to create designs for an entire baby-sized quilt top!
2) If you shop at Home Depot, look for this product in the back center of the store, where you find doors. The entire selection of lucite sheets was at the end of the aisle.
3) Don't neglect to put duct tape around the outside of the lucite sheet. It not only protects your hands from sharp edges, but the tape is a visual indicator of where the lucite ends - a must-know so you don't get dry erase marker on your quilt!

This afternoon sees me prepping for teaching. Five weeks of "First Time Quiltmaking" lessons begin tomorrow (Thursday) morning. Eighteen women are enrolled! Hand-outs are ready, and I'll be loading the car next. I'm excited about teaching again since it's been since November 2011, in Clive, Iowa, that I last taught. I'm expecting Floridians to be as amenable and excited to learning quiltmaking as Iowans were. Linda