Today, I’m getting a break from my duties at Foltmer Drug and RadioShack, so that I can pursue some quilting for my upcoming customers.  WOO HOO!  This quilt is awesome.  I love the colors, and it’s made entirely of batik fabrics.  The quilt is called the Jelly Roll Race Quilt.

I found a tutorial video on you-tube here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bEJLnaZQOU

I met with Melanie when she dropped off her quilt top, and we looked at several designs, ultimately deciding upon a gorgeous oak leaves design by Anne Bright.  I love using her designs, because they stitch out so beautifully on my Statler Stitcher, Artie…

Anne Brights designs are online here www.annebright.com

Because of the beatiful oak leaves and acorns design, and the colors of the batik fabrics, a King Tut variegated thread was chosen to complement the quilt.

Superior Threads has a website at www.superiorthreads.com and many sewing and quilting shops carry their thread.  I subscribe to their monthly newsletter for the great thread education, but also for the joke of the month… which is always super funny, and a joke that I can tell at work.

Here is a closeup of the quilting design.  You can see the beauty of the batiks, and the richness of the pattern and color.  I chose to use a black batting, since there are no areas of white in the quilt.  That way, if the batting ever beards out after washing, it will be less noticeable.  Maybe you’re not yet familiar with that term.  Bearding is the term to describe when little fibers of batting escape from inside the quilt, usually through the needle holes made while quilting, or through a seam that has been pressed open.  They can be a bother, and can take away from the beauty of your quilt.

Beards on “Fellow Quilter” = Good

Beards on your quilt = Bad

The other tip for this day is to realize that batiks are much tighter woven than your traditional cotton fabrics, say from Moda or Benartex, etc.  As a result, if you have to rip out stitches, there will still be holes where the needle sewed the fabric.  If you rip out on a batik, you should try your best to resew exactly over the same stitching line to hide those holes.  Just a little thing, but it’s the little things that set your quilt apart.  Thanks for reading!

Fellow Quilter,

Brian Clements