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50th Anniversary Wall Quilt - Part 7

I decided the open space area above mom's head needed some quilting. I didn't want to have too much quilting but I wanted to fill the space. The people will not be quilted. I decided that I didn't want to mess anything up and taking the plunge to quilt even the empty space was making me nervous. I've put a lot of work into the portrait and I don't want to ruin it.


I thought a large 50 should go into the corner but what else? I had no idea and after looking through some quilting books to get ideas, I thought I'd use the Ohio quilt block pattern, which to me looks just like a star so I thought I could work with that.

I got my projector out and got to work. Using the projector simply helps with placement and keeping things straight, which most people can't do freehand. So after I got them roughed in so to speak, I needed to fill the spaces in between. I didn't just want to do a meander stitch all over because I wanted a bit more of a design. So when in doubt, use a scroll type vine and maybe some leaves. I liked the looks of it in my test drawings and so I filled in the remaining areas including the small space behind dad's head.

I placed some batting and stabilizer behind my portrait and picked my thread. I won't go into detail about my agonizing about the thread I used but I picked a Sulky variegated long staple cotton thread. It matches the background nicely in cream, tan and dark brownish.




After I got everything just about done, the Ohio block didn't look too good so I filled some areas in with a meander stitch and boy did they pop. I thought it looked good and somehow elegant at the same time. I love it so much that I filled in the 50. I also used a YLI silk thread in cream for small star and the vines around the 5. The rest is the variegated thread. I'm really pleased with how this turned out. I was looking for subtle yet pretty and that's exactly what I got. The pictures really don't do it justice.

Now, I just have to pick the border I want to use and get sewing.











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