Quilting the quilt

This is a flame lily, it grows like a week in the Okovango Delta.

I've spent a fair amount of time on quilting the starburst quilt for the upcoming show. This quilt is not about quilting, it is about piecing -- SO many pieces [over 1200, as I've written before]. But of course it needed to be quilted. I'm using clear nylon thread on the top and grey-blue on the back that almost disappears against the commercial batiked backing. I'm mostly quilting in the ditch producing texture, the sense of ridge and furrow, not an addition of pattern which would be entirely too much, I think.

It's a lot of sewing but the piece is only 40x40 so it is easy to handle under the sewing machine and already has its own body from the narrow strips and the small but numerous seam allowances on the inside. It has been easy to get into a meditative, very pleasant work pattern. I have only one side of the border yet to quilt and then I'll put on a binding -- I've just chosen from my stash a deep green. I'll make bias strips and only a small amount of it will show on the front.

So that will be done and then I'll do the "Lemonade" quilt, possibly in various sizes of circles to offset the squareness of all the pieces. In that one the quilting will be important. That will be a very different quilting experience. I do agree with those who mumble the platitude, "variety is the spice of life." Indeed.