Moving It Forward Monday: "Cotton Boll" Quilting Is Under Way!

Once again channeling Bonnie Hunter, I finally got started on the quilting of "Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll" this weekend.  Before the layering, I had auditioned a few stitch patterns for this:

Initially, with such a busy design and large quilt, my first thought was to go with an all-over pattern.  However, even though it meant doing semi-custom quilting, I really liked the last one because it emphasized what I felt stood out visually in the quilt top:  the two different blocks and the strong vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines of the design.  Interestingly, all the motifs I will be using for this come from this one pattern:

It's not surprising since this APQ quilt design has the same visual elements as "Cotton Boll".  I will also use the same inner border motif as the APQ quilt but will be doing something different on the "Cotton Boll" outer border.

I started with the continuous curve stitching along the block seam allowances.  Doing this first is a way of doing "stabilizing stitching" across the center of the quilt.  So far, I'm about halfway through stitching along the seams of the rows of light string blocks.  When I started, I debated on whether to do them free-motion or with a walking foot.  I wasn't confident about doing them evenly with free-motion since the blocks are large (10-1/2").  However, doing them with a walking foot meant marking them in order for them to look even.  I found two interesting tools in the studio for that:

This "Leaves Galore" template is normally used for making rotary cut curved applique shapes (and there are two other sizes of these templates available).  However in this instance, it provided the perfect size curve to fit my blocks.  Teamed with a Hera marker (the other end of this version is also a "point turner"), it allowed me to mark the quilt as I went along in a way that will not require removing the markings later.   

At this point, I'm about half way done with the light string block seam allowances.  I will be using a slightly different color thread on the red "Boll" blocks.  Once all the stabilizing stitching is done, I can move on to doing free-motion for the motifs to be stitched in the blocks.

As promised, as I stitch the seam allowances I had pin basted, I'm removing the pins in order to use them to baste "Tobacco Road"!  

Friday....

Today!  It's a start....

The only down side is that at the rate I'm going, I may only get through these two quilts by the end of this mystery season.  Well, better two than none!