The background on this particular quilt is a bit of a story in itself. First, here are the details of how I quilted this. I layered Legacy wool on top of Legacy 80/20. I put a holly swirl in the outer borders and the green sashing. In the light green border, I did switchback feathers. I did all the SID and outlined the applique with clear Madeira Monolon. I echoed the phrase in the top border with the same thread I used on the feathers (So Fine in Moda green). The holly treatment was done in ivy tone on tone King Tut. I then echoed all the applique on the right side of each block in cream Bottom Line and did pebbles in 3 different color threads (two So Fine and one Signature) in the left side of the block backgrounds. I chose echoing around the applique and pebbles in the left portion of the background to bring a unifying theme to all the applique. I shadow outlined the outer sashing around the blocks and did swirls on the red inner sashing around the applique . I used the same cream Bottom Line in the bobbin throughout (I wasn’t going to do this, but the tension was going so well and it was easier than changing bobbins all the time).
Now, the rest of the story. The lady this quilt belongs to was referred to me by the owner of a LQS I frequent. This lady had already had another longarmer quilt this for her. She took out all the stitches because she wasn’t happy with the end result. I was a bit apprehensive about doing this, but I can see why she might not have been happy with the first quilting treatment. The first quilter had used a thick linty looking medium tan colored thread in the light green border and outlined all the top applique phrase with that thread. It really contrasted poorly with the applique. She also stippled the background of the applique blocks with a white thinner thread which also stood out – but the bigger problem I saw was that she stippled the applique itself. The swan had small stippling holes all over it (white thread on a blue swan) and I hope those holes will close up for her when she soaks or washes this quilt.
When she brought the quilt, I asked her what she envisioned for her quilt – and she pointed to several things I had as samples and some designs on my quilts. She expressed a liking for pebbles and echoing. I tried to get as much information on what she disliked about the quilting treatment and what she liked for her quilt. I hope she likes what I have done. I think it looks nice and is what I would have done to this quilt had it been mine.