First of all, I hope you enjoyed your celebration of Thanksgiving! We have so many blessings to be thankful for, don’t we? “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” (James 1:17) During this season, I have been thinking with great thanks of salvation through Jesus Christ. And I have been meditating on the blessing of family who love and care for me. Another blessing is living in a community with friends who share my creative interests. Two such friends are Bonnie C. and Debbie B.
Bonnie enjoys working with panels, making gifts for family and friends. She found the perfect panel for her cousin, an avid huntsman. Bonnie pictures him relaxing in his recliner, wrapped in her gift.
Bonnie selected the “Malachite” pantograph design which nicely echos the wiggly lines of camouflage in the third border. Tan thread blends well with all the fabrics.
Debbie also recently made a panel quilt. Hers is a holiday quilt portraying greenery, poinsettias, and cardinals. Since all of her quilts have been gifted to family members, she has decided to keep this one for herself.
Debbie chose a green variegated thread and requested holly for a quilting design. We considered a poinsettia and holly pantograph, but opted for a freehand holly and loop design in order to work around the striped flange.
Do you see the diagonally striped fabric between the black inner border and the outer border? As a folded strip of fabric inserted in the seam, the longarm hopping foot would have caught and flipped it quite often had I used a pantograph. I quilted holly and loops in the interior of the quilt as well as in the outer border, treating them separately, thus sidestepping the flange. After completing the quilting on the longarm, I stitched in the ditch to the right of the flange with my domestic sewing machine using red thread. Debbie is going to enjoy decorating her living room with this festive quilt.
Have you made a panel quilt this year? If so, describe it in a comment below.