Twiggy and Opal: 'Hills & Valleys'

The sweet smell of victory! You know that feeling! Anytime you can claim a finish it's a great feeling and a victory in my book especially these days! It might be a small finish, but one nonetheless!

HILLS & VALLEYS
15 1/2" x 15 3/4"

In my last post I shared what went into making this quilt. The parts and pieces, the contemplation and process. Now is the time for the finale by sharing the quilting of this one little quilt.

I love when the stars align and you feel like all the work you put into a quilt paid off. This quilt is a mere 15 1/2" x 15 3/4" which gives me the opportunity to have some quilting fun. Dense, detailed and free-motion!

Starting with the center I choose 1/4" vertical lines using a bright orange thread. It was a great start and it set me up for the next section to tackle.

For the inset circles section I went with a 1/2" grid for part of it and continued with 1/4" lines for the rest. Inside the circles I free-motion quilted a super dense swirl. All very simple designs, but exactly what I was after.

What I like to call the 'hills' section, the improv half-ish circles, I went what looks like sun rays on the side. Again, simple but effective.

The top 'hill' section ended up with organic matchstick quilting. When I have a quilt this size, or maybe any quilt for that matter, I often see and do the quilting in sections. My mind goes there and I follow!

The final section! Naturally I went with pebbles. The texture and look alone is enough to brave the free-motion adventure!

I used about 5-6 different thread colors, all 50 wt Aurifil. One second I wanted contrast with the thread on the fabric, the next second I was all matchy-matchy. No rules, right?!

The back is always a beautiful sight and I always add hanging corners for a simple way to hang a quilt.

For one fleeting moment I considered adding some kind of matching binding. Thankfully I came to my senses and decided an orange binding would be just fine!

I am quite content and pleased with this finish! Now if I could only try another color palette...

If you haven't had your machine serviced in a while...I highly recommend that you do! My quilting was on hold while my big Janome was taking a well earned two week sabbatical. While I missed having it by my side, I was blown away at the difference a deep cleaning and servicing made. It was much quieter, smoother and the stitches are better than ever!

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