Metro Waves

It hasn't taken me long to learn that if you're going to teach anything related to quilting, you have to plan w-a-y ahead and make the projects. That's what I did when I decided to offer Beyond First Time Quiltmaking classes about curves using the Quick Curve Ruler (QCR). After making Urban Abacus, I made one more quilt for a total of four QCR quilts under my belt. I love every one of them.

However, the last one, Metro Waves challenged me the most. First, as I mentioned in a previous post, the yardages given in the instructions work only if you're using solid fabrics which are wider than prints. If, like me, you want to make Metro Waves with prints, you need more fabric.

Second, I started thinking scrappy would be great, and... oh how wrong I was! It was difficult to select the "right" fabrics to go together.

After cutting out a gazillion convex and concave curves, I finally figured out that Metro Waves looks much better with a controlled color palette.





Batting is a single layer of Quilter's Dream Puff. This is the first time I've quilted with Puff, and while I like it because it's lightweight, and well... puffy. It gives dimension to the quilting. But I found the sandwich didn't stay together well with 505 Basting Spray. Puff is too fluffy to hold together with spray baste. The next time I use Puff, I'll definitely pin-baste.

I quilted the entire quilt without marking. In all the print areas I quilted straight lines, not with a walking foot, but a straight Fine Line Ruler.

In the solid white (Kona) spaces, I free-hand quilted a variety of round and curved shapes. 

For styled photos of Metro Waves, I wanted a water view to mimic the waves in the quilt. While an oceanside picture with crashing waves would have been ideal, I wasn't up for a 90 minute drive to the beach, nor the inevitable spring break crowds I would encounter.

So, a bit closer to home these pictures were taken at Lake Sumter Landing in The Villages.

Metro Waves, 53" X 71"

These colors. This design. This style. The quilting. They are all me expressing my best, happy self.

One more water view... of an alligator. While they're commonplace here - a gator in every body of water - when our city is full of northern visitors, a gator attracts a crowd. About 15 golf carts pulled off the path to stop and admire this big boy. He was eight to nine feet long, by our estimation.

I hope everyone found a blessed way to celebrate Easter and our risen Lord Jesus. He is risen indeed! Linda