Tease for Kevin

I am quilting a quilt for Kevin, who blogs at http://kevinthequilter.blogspot.com/.  The quilt will eventually be donated to QoV, but first Kevin is going to be hauling it around with him when he gives talks and presentations to guilds about QoV.  Since he calls somewhere in the mid-west home (when he's not doing the job that supports his quilting habit) and I am in the Pacific Northwest, he has had no input as to the quilting on this quilt.  Actually, he was nice enough to tell me to just have fun and so I am!!  I am trying all sorts of quilting patterns I have never tried before - gotta love doodling on paper first!!  So here are a few more pictures of what I have been working on since my last post:

There are three sections of the quilt made up of lots of scraps.  The top section is red, center is creams and the bottom is blue, but there are no discernible blocks, so my usual method of custom quilting the blocks just doesn't apply - most of the time I am going just for textures...LOTS. OF. TEXTURE.  Because the cream part shows the quilting more, it is getting a bit of special attention.  Lots of chalk markings and water-soluble blue pens have been used on this baby so Kevin will need to wash it before giving it away!!  I have been trying to make sure that all the markings are invisible as I finish each section, but I like my quilts to be totally clean when I give them to their recipient...I just spray with water and use a white towel if I need to do any rubbing.

If you have never seen what longarm quilters do to your quilt, you would be shocked!!  We don't hurt your quilt, but we are not always as gentle as you might wish!!  That's why I totally took apart my challenge quilt and I'm re-sewing it - it was partially hand quilted with 1/16"-1/8" seams, many of which were already coming apart from fraying.  If I were to put any tension on that top on my longarm, it would have just shredded.  That is why we all want the seams that end on the borders to be backspaced to lock them together - otherwise they pull apart and we have to carefully lock them down while they are on the frame.

**I keep track of the hours I put into quilting quilts - 23 on this quilt so far!

I am linking up with Freemotion by the River just because I'm having so much fun with this quilt!