Commission: "Open Waters" Batik Couch Quilt

This quilt was expertly pieced and gifted by Catherine L. ("Cat").

It was quilted on my Janome QMP-18 long arm.

Finished size: 68" x 75”

(click on photos to enlarge)

🌊FINISHED QUILT:🌊

Front: Cat pieced this beautiful quilt using the Three Dudes Quilt pattern. It is 36 blocks (in a 6x6 grid) surrounded by piano key borders.

Back: The backing fabric is royal blue cotton blender.

Quilting- Pattern: The stitching pattern is "Joyful" from My Creative Stitches. 

Quilting- Thread: Cat used Purple Iris (So Fine 50 #441) thread to stitch the front and Out of the Blue (So Fine 50 #433) for the back of the quilt.

🌊PROGRESS PHOTOS:🌊

Construction:

Cat used 3 jelly rolls (2.5" precut strips) of Robert Kaufman's Artisan Batiks: Open Waters, plus some additional yardage as well, to make this quilt.

First Cat completed the 36 center blocks, and then added a piano key border.

Once the piano key border was complete, she then auditioned a couple of different options to add another border and make the quilt slightly longer.

Her final border choice - perfect!

Quilting:

We loaded the quilt back (rolling it back and forth between the back and front bars a few times, helping to even any tension), followed by laying on the batting and then placing the quilt top, creating our quilt sandwich.

We loaded it horizontally to reduce the number of quilting rows/passes.

The quilt sandwich was then completely basted, down one side, across the belly bar, and back up the other side, advancing and repeating, before starting the quilt stitching.

Beginning the first of 10 rows of "Joyful".

Even though this design looks extremely intricate, it has no backtracking and quilted great - no eyelashes at pointed direction changes, no tension problems.

The Purple Iris (So Fine 50 #441) thread is a really great choice for this quilt!

In the center section of the quilt top, there was one pieced area that was a tiny bit too full, so I used the "soup can" method to avoid stitching any folds into the fabric. It worked great, as it always does!

Beginning the last full-sized row on my long arm.

Employing the "soup can" technique once more for a small section of the final row on the piano key border.

Trimming:

Once quilting was complete, Cat trimmed and squared the sides and prepped strips to bind the quilt.

Binding:

Cat machine attached a solid black cotton binding.

Washing:

She machine washed the finished quilt (cold water, no bleach) using dye trapping sheets (these are usually either Color Catchers or Color Grabbers).

🌊RECIPIENT:🌊

Cat gifted this quilt, and it is certainly being loved and appreciated!

🌊QUILT SUMMARY:🌊

This quilt was expertly pieced by Catherine L. ("Cat")
It was quilted on my Janome QMP-18 long arm.

Finished size: 68" x 75”
Front piecing: 36 blocks (in a 6x6 grid) using the Three Dudes Quilt pattern, surrounded by piano key borders.

Back: A royal blue cotton blender.

Binding: Solid black cotton, machine sewn by Cat.

Quilting: Quilted in "Joyful" by My Creative Stitches. Purple Iris (So Fine 50 #441) thread on front and Out of the Blue (So Fine 50 #433) on back.

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