Quilting the Peacock!

My UFO to be completed for MCQG Guild this past month was #9 - which was to quilt my Peacock Braids quilt.

I shared it's start HERE on the blog in 2012 - January of 2012!!!

Yep, 3-1/2 years ago!

The fabric is Timeless Treasures Plume CM8662, and of course I fell in love with it - what's not to love???

In fact, I love it so much I've made several other projects from the same fabric =^..^=

Stitchery Keeper

See-N-Go Project Bag

One of the reasons this quilting project has been on the shelf for so long is that I was afraid to quilt it.  It's not too terribly large - about 36"x45" - a good size for my Janome 6600P with the large throat.  But I knew it deserved some special quilting, and I really didn't feel confident enough to go for it.  This year, I decided to put it on my UFO list so I wouldn't have any more excuses!

After sandwiching - never fun! - I trimmed as much as I could off the edges and then turned and pinned the backing over the front to keep some of the wool batting fuzz out of my sensitive nose as well as off of that black fabric.  It was impossible to keep the black free of fuzz of course, but I think this helped at least :*)

Then I started picking some yummy thread candidates for making this quilt as beautiful as I could make it ...

I love the look of King Tut thread on the top of a quilt, so using the black in that for the background was the first easy choice.  Then I chose this gorgeous aqua metallic thread on the left for the peacock feathers, and the deep, intriguing green variegated thread on the right for the leaves ....

I love how the aqua metallic makes those feathers sparkle! ....

After painstakingly quilting the peacock ....

...... I outlined all the other flowers and leaves on the quilt, and then I began to fill in the black background areas with my simplified, totally novice version of McTavishing...

As this was my first attempt at this filler stitch, I have to say I was pretty pleased with how well it turned out!  It's nice to know that I will get better at it as I practice :*)

For the borders, I really had to give some thought to how I wanted to quilt them.  Because the inside was so densely quilted, the borders needed lots of quilting as well so it would keep its shape.  But my main objective was to keep that braid look clean and sharp.  I didn't want a lot of thread moving around in there to muddy up the design.  So I drew out some options on graph paper ...

Isn't it amazing how much we can learn from drawing out a design first?  I was pretty sure I would go with feathers in there at first.  Peacocks=feathers, right?  And I planned to use a thread that would disappear as much as possible, just leaving the texture.  But after looking at my drawing, I decided the beaded rows were a perfect counterbalance to all the flowery/feathery stuff going on in the center.

They were fairly easy to do too.  I've stitched pebbles before, so that wasn't too frightening.  My main concern was in keeping the rows even and the same width.  These tools came to my rescue ....

I have no idea where I got the 1/4" plastic stick, but it was perfect for marking both sides of the beading row.  And I use the Clover White Marking Pen everywhere I can - it makes very minimal lines and irons out beautifully when I'm done!

I just love how the beaded rows look in the finished borders!  I stitched in the ditches as well to give each braid a nice finished definition.

The quilt is now pinned down on the guest-room floor, being blocked in preparation for binding.

I don't usually have to block my quilts, but this one had pretty wacky, wavy borders when the quilting was done. That often happens when doing a dense quilting project on a domestic machine......

I'm hoping it will be ready to bind later tonight.  I'm excited to have this favorite quilt all done and ready to enjoy!!!

In the meantime, I'm going to be joining Kathy's Quilts for some Slow Sunday Stitching this afternoon.  Kathy is relaxing with her Pumpkin Seeds applique, making orange ones for the 2015 Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I stitched together this Patchwork of the Cross block this past week ....

... and I hope to finish up the last of the hand stitching on Block #1 of my Folk Art Album today while watching the PGA Playoffs with My Guy.

Wishing everyone a lovely Labor Day weekend!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

I'm also linking up with Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday, Freemotion by the River for Tuesday Linky Party, and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.