TDR Queen {Finished Quilt}

It wasn’t exactly smooth sailing to get from the basted quilt to a quilt finish this week, but my sample for the Playful Partial Seams workshop that I’ll be teaching at QuiltCon 2022 in Phoenix is complete.

Playful Partial Seams – Aurifil Thread and Quilting Detail

50wt Aurifl in 2435 (Peachy Pink) melted into the Tula Pink print perfectly. I did vacillate back and for on whether to use this color matching thread or 2600 (Dove), which is a light gray. I was a bit concerned about how the pink would look on the striped print, but my first instinct was to use the pink and I’m glad that I opted to use it. Even with a contrasting 50wt thread, I don’t think that it tends to show or distract too much, especially from a distance. Clearly, the more contrasting quilting you apply to an area, the more it will show, but for the 1″ spacing I used for this quilt, it’s very subtle and certainly the right choice for the background print.

Also, as you can see in the image above, I used my Hera marker to make some reference lines as I quilted. I started out quilting the background by following the shape of the inset curve star in the center of the quilt. After the 2nd echo, it got a lot harder to have a nice, even arch as the radius of the curve got smaller. But I plowed ahead, even though I *knew* better. So, after quilting a quarter of the quilt, I pulled out my trusty seam ripper and removed my quilting. Then I went back to my tried and true method to mark curves using a ruler and my Hera marker. The results were worth the little bit of extra time.

Playful Partial Seams – Quilt Backing

I guess I’m in a bit of a “use lime green for the quilt backing” phase if you look back at my last finish (Planview quilt)! Once again, it’s a nice way to get a different perspective on the quilting. I use matching bobbin thread to the thread on top, and the pink even melts into this print. I did opt to use navy to hand stitch the binding to the backing; I always try to pick a thread that blends in well with the binding for the finishing hand work.

Playful Partial Seams

In case you missed all the whoopsies along the way, you can read about the back story for the TDR Queen and my subsequent TDR Queen progress update from earlier this week. Making quilts isn’t always an easy straight line from start to finish. It’s okay to make mistakes, take a break, and come back to finish later. And I’m pretty sure that all the things I did wrong are going to help make my workshop that much better, too.

Linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday, Finished or Not Friday hosted by Alycia Quilts, Beauties Pageant 149 hosted by Michelle From Bolt to Beauty, and TGIFF hosted this wee by Leanne of Devoted Quilter.