Shelley’s Pixelated Heart Quilt!
(This post was written awhile back, and was meant to be shared elsewhere. When that didn’t work out, I knew I wanted to share it here...enjoy!!)
I’m so grateful I get to do what I do!! My sweet as they come client, Shelley, made this for one of her friends who has cancer and is going through chemo. This is when quilts and quilting mean far more to me. Being able to machine quilt something that is bringing warmth and love to someone during a difficult time, is such a gift and a privilege. I hope her friend finds healing and is on the road to recovery soon.
If you’ve been on Instagram and you follow quilters, you may have seen this pixelated heart quilt. It’s been everywhere lately. Judith Hollies from Just Jude Designs is selling this pattern on her Etsy. I’m loving the scrappy look to this quilt, from the low volume background to the reds and pinks in all different varieties of prints.
Some of my clients look on my website www.quiltingit.com to see which edge to edge machine quilting designs I have available, unless they request custom quilting which I do free motion. Shelley came with a few ideas, which is great!! I appreciate it when they help me narrow it down to what they like. However, after I saw this quilt I showed her our Cupid©️ design. This design is by Patricia Ritter and myself, and it’s available in paper and several different digital formats at https://www.urbanelementz.com/cupid.html She said yes!! I was excited. I’ve quilted this particular design out once or twice, and each time it’s just one of my very favorites, and I think it’s a perfect fit for this quilt.
When I pick a quilting design, I take into consideration everything about the quilt. The fabric prints, the textures, the quilt pattern, and so on. I often draw inspiration from a quilt, like I did with Shelley, and I just know when I look at it what will look great. Other times I have to think about it for awhile. When deciding on the quilting design, I often choose something that will complement the quilt without it being the exact same design. For example I don’t love to quilt flowers on a quilt that has flower quilt blocks and flower fabrics. I think that’s when the quilting can compete with the quilt. In that case I would rather choose something with leaves or a geometric design. I feel like quilting isn’t supposed to be the focus of a quilt, rather the focus should be the quilt as a whole. Everything, fabrics...pattern...and quilting. If done right each part is complimentary to each other. Now, you may be smiling. I quilted hearts on a heart quilt. Yes, however not every fabric on this quilt has hearts on it. That’s why quilting hearts works. Cupid enhanced the hard edges on the giant pixelated heart, and softened it up quite a bit. I also love to soften the hard lines on a quilt by doing curvy or swirly designs for the quilting. My best advice, be inspired by the quilt. Everything about it. You never know, you may be inspired to do something amazing, by just thinking outside the box. Urban Elementz has an incredible selection of quilting designs from a wide variety of designers, I recommend choosing a variety of different designs that will look beautiful on a variety of different quilts.
The swirls in this design add great movement, and almost dance across the quilt. I also love the texture that quilting adds to a quilt. You can see pictured below the difference of the design on the beautiful red, and the softness of the cream background.
I used Dyed Natural A&E 30 tex Perma Core thread, which is the most lovely creamy color of thread, on the front and back. I also used Winline’s 8020 cotton poly blend batting. Which is a perfect combo, with this super soft Cuddle™️ (minky) backing. Cuddle is the brand name for Shannon Fabrics minky. This particular one, was one of their 90” wide minky’s. I love the 90” for those quilts that are too big for the 60” minky.
I’d like to mention something about plush quilt backings, like minky or Cuddle. I prefer the solid minky with no textures or prints or embossing, 10 times out of 10. The reason being, the quilting you’re paying good money to have done, can be your texture. I mean look how absolutely beautiful our Cupid design is on this Cuddle. With the textured or printed minky’s, they compete with the quilting, and you miss the texture the quilting gives the quilt. What you really want the quilting to do is enhance your quilt, front and back. I’ve often heard that quilting is like the icing on the cake. If you love those textured minky’s, great!! Go for it! For me, I’ll just be over here swooning over those swirly hearts.
Thank you for spending your time with me today! In the future, I’d like to share with you my thoughts on the size/scale of a design. Until then, I hope your quilting journey is a happy one. I love creating designs that you love to use. I for one am excited to see what we can continue to do together in the future. Happy quilting!!
Have a great day!!
- Leisha