Projects more than half done...

In January I joined a PHD group on Facebook.  Basically, the wonderful Kelly at Kelly Ann's Quilting asked for a list of six PHDs (Projects Half Done) from everyone who wanted to join in.  I sent in my list and on the 15th of the month, Kelly picks a number and we all dig out that one and work on it for the month.  On March 15th she picked #1.

This is that PHD. I looked to see when I made this top.  I remember buying the fabric in Virginia.  Other than that, I have no idea when I picked it up.  That isn't important.  What is important is getting this from a PHD top to a real quilt.  I pieced a backing from four yards of batik that I had picked up for... something.  That isn't important, either.  I pressed it all and loaded the long arm.  

I spent some time with my marker and the paper from my batting trying to figure out what I wanted to do.  I thought these big flower-like shapes around swirl base would be good, along with some simple loops for the background/filler.  This isn't how I figure out all my quilting designs, but I think it really helped me get the plan in my head before I committed thread to quilt.  You can see where I tried out little swirls and a simple meander for the filler.

I used Superior Threads Fantastico for my top thread and Omni for my bobbin thread.  Since I had used similar weight threads on a previous quilt, this made for very little fiddling with tension and I got started with the stitching. 

I love how this design really brings another dimension to the quilt top.  A jelly-roll race quilt isn't the most exciting top, but I think it moved from mundane to something amazing with the quilting.

After about four hours of quilting, I finished up and could take a picture of the quilt off the frame.  Sorry about the shadows from the doors; the sun had gotten pretty low by the time I took these last couple pictures.  The flowers don't overwhelm the surface of the quilt, but they are rather large.  The strips are 2" and some of the flowers take up four or more strips.

The back of the quilt hides most of the quilting, too.  Sometimes, I like the backing to really hide the bobbin thread.  Other times... I am sad when I can't see the detail of the stitching equally on both sides of the quilt.  Now, I just need to finish the binding and add a label to move this from PHD to the hands of a loved one.