All That Glitters

It was late October when we last saw this project.   The piecing was done and had just been loaded onto my longarm frame.

Then, the horrible happened ... my Dad passed away and everything came to a screeching halt.  I seriously, *seriously* underestimated how long it would take to handle everything associated with his funeral and ... omg .. the paperwork.  Right after that, Thanksgiving occurred and we were away from the house for about a week and half.

But, events concerning my Dad's estate are kinda/sorta under control.  Thanksgiving is over and done with.  I really needed to get All That Glitters quilted and off the frame, since I had previously volunteered to quilt some charity quilts and 2 had been delivered to me.

FINALLY .. last night, December 8th ... I finished the quilting for All That Glitters!

I had previously finished the quilting in the border blocks.  I needed to remember what I had planned for the red sashings (anything?), how to treat the center tree and what I was going to do about the background (anything?)

The border blocks: the stars were SITD with holly leaves quilted in the green squares & the red center square and nested loops in the green  triangles.  I used Glide thread in "Khaki", which is totally a bogus name.  It really looks like a low-sheen, burnished Old Gold.  Awesome thread, incredible color.

The blocks between the stars were quilted with a circular feather design.  Because the printed design on the fabric is in gold, I decided to quilt the feathers in a matching green thread.  I realized the quilting would be inconspicuous but, dang, it really did just about disappear!  I wouldn't advise feathers in a printed fabric for a customer quilt for exactly this reason but for my own quilts, I can do what I want. :-)

Sashings are always a dilemma.  Quilt or not?  The photo shows the quilt hanging sideways on the frame.  What looks like the top/bottom horizontal red strips are really vertical when the quilt is hung properly.  They are 2" wide.  The other red strips are 1-1/2" wide.  I quilted nested circles in an alternating, wave orientation.  I used red Glide thread.  Awesome stuff.

That left the tree in the center.  With Glide "Khaki", I outlined every doggone snowflake.  What a major pain to need to tie and bury all those tails, but I did.  The background of the center medallion was densely quilted with nested clamshells in green, so the background would be flattened and the actual quilting wouldn't show ... all you'd "see" is the texture.  This enabled the non-quilted parts of the tree to puff out in a 3D effect.

I've read several accounts of the mini-LED lights not having the final effect that was expected and that the wires & battery box on the back prevented the quilt from laying flat.  A suggested alternative was to use Swarovski crystals.  So, I'm going to go that route, once the quilt is squared up.

I'm on the 5 yard line, folks!   Detailed, close-up pictures will be taken when the quilt is finished.