Panel Quilting

 I love it when a concept in my head actually turns out better than expected and there are days when this seems to be the exception rather than the rule. I have been browsing around to find ideas for how to include a large panel in a quilt and just haven't come up with any really great ideas. The panel I've been saving is not so much pricey, it's the fabrics I'm putting with it that are so I don't want to mess it up. Along comes another panel, bought at a thrift store, that gave me the push I needed to actually dream up panel quilt ideas of my own.

While browsing one of my favorite thrift stores, I spied a panel that said something I wanted to keep:

Center panel with 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

There were about eight of them and even though I was tempted to buy more, reason kicked in and I went out the door with only one. Showing it off to friends later I noticed it wasn't cut even on one side and that was going to be a problem so I went back the same day and traded it out for a better one. It didn't languish long when I got out block patterns and tried out various color combinations, as you can see from the block next to the panel above. Here's a close up of my experimentation:

Color combinations

The white or cream background was nice but just too washed out. When I tried a print as the main color you can see that it's so busy you cannot see the pattern.  Since I was using a 10" layer cake stack of fabrics (the colors were really great with the panel colors), I went with one of the dominant colors for a turquoise main color with the others as supporting fabrics. There was too much red/pink to my liking so my husband suggested I try more yellow. I had to look in my stash of fabrics to find a few more that would coordinate well but in the end that was what worked.

Mock up for borders

With my daughters' help in color coordinating, I added the blue and brown inner borders but when it was done it just didn't look complete so she suggested another brown border and that was exactly what was needed. I found a brown print in my stash that would work for the backing and I was on a roll. Deciding how to quilt the various areas was really fun with an outline of the large botanical elements on the panel, outline the word "love", free motion designs on the blue and brown borders, but what about those big 12" blocks? I moved to a walking foot and stitched in the ditch on one side of each V pattern. With only twenty blocks it wasn't too tedious even if I did have to take out stitching once in awhile due to puckering on the backing. Once I got to the final border I got excited to mimic the straight diagonal lines of the blocks by making a diamond grid along the final edge. There was even enough brown fabric left to bind the whole thing! I love it when I don't have to buy anything new and for this 76" square project I only had to purchase the turquoise solid. Here's the quilt I took to First Quilter's to show off as well as get some advice:

Almost done!

I shared with them how I wanted to add stitches in the panel area so it would wash well and not bunch up and I got two suggestions. I added an outline of a dove in the center of the words and also added some flourishes around the lines of text where needed. It worked out  with no spaces larger than the 8" required for spacing by the batting manufacturer. 

Which machine did I use? For this project I started on a Janome Skyline 3 that was wonderful for piecing but when it came time for the free motion sewing the Janome didn't have feed dogs that dropped so I moved to a Bernina Artista 200. While that was great for free motion, when I needed to use a walking foot I moved to the Elna Quilting Queen 7300 with its built in walking foot. I love all three machines but think the Janome is going to be listed for sale and the Bernina was only bought so I could learn the embroidery system. More about those things later because we are off camping again to give me a bit of relief from sewing. 

We do have some sad news: our beloved cat, Meg, was finally put down a couple weeks ago, just shy of her 19th birthday. She was my sewing companion many times sitting on the back of the chair seat with me, trying to vie for my attention. Here's a final photo of the quilt and one of our Meg. May this quilt give someone joy as Meg did for us.

Grand finale

Meg, our quilting cat