Quiltingboard Forums - Blue Heron wall hanging

This client quilt is all raw edge applique done with Misty Fuse (I believe). I have never done a quilt like this and it needed lots of thread layed down to hold all that fusing in place. There were places where some of those little tiny pieces were coming up even after fusing again. I think maybe none of the fabs were prewashed and maybe the factory sizing kept it from fusing real well?? Don't know. Anyway, I basically had carte blanche on this quilt. Client said try anything you want, thread painting, trapunto, etc. She kind of wanted the heron to be trapunto. But because I had to lay so much thread on the heron to hold down the fusible this is not trapunto in the traditional sense. I started it like traditional but in traditional you just outline the main shape and then cut away then heavily back fill to get the motif to really pop up off the surface and have extra stuffing (batting) in it. I outlined then did some intense thread play, not quite thread painting but a lot of thread, on the heron. I did all this with Invisfil thread so just got the suggestions of texture and feathers without really seeing all the thread build up. Then I cut away the excess batting and layered it up with an 80/20 on bottom and wool on top of that. Then I did heavy back fills to create a faux trapunto with the heron, except he is heavily quilted but because I quilted minimally on him after layering he pops right up like real trapunto yet he has textured quilting. The effect was quite cool and I have not seen anything like it but I am sure others have certainly come up with the idea.

Here is top before any quilting:
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here is just the heron quilted and the back showing how I cut the batting away
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Here is the completed quilting and my usual gratuitous back shot.
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Sorry so many of the pics came through sideways. This is all hand guided quilting. A mix of free motion and ruler work for the ditch and sun rays. I love how that sky turned out. I always worry that what I quilt won't be how I envision it, but this sky came out exactly as I hoped. I wanted it to look like the morning rays burning off clouds and streaming through them. You know how you sometimes see those skies with the rays coming through the clouds? That always makes me think of the Glory of God. As always, I look forward to your comments.