Corinne Wells • Eclipse quilt

Hi Friends,

I have a super fun release for you!!! I recently had the privilege of quilting two new releases for fabric and pattern designer Corinne Wells of Frannie B Quilt Co. and today I get to share the first one with you as part of a virtual Quilt Market that Riley Blake Designs is hosting. Corinne’s new fabric line is called Frannie B Elegance, and its beautiful!! It’s always a treat to quilt for a pattern designer, even sweeter with they design their own fabrics, too. I’ll share the next one with you, next week.

If you follow me over on instagram @leishakaye, you may have seen this quilt back. Love it when a back looks this great! Keep reading to see the front.

Introducing Eclipse! Beautiful, huh?!?! Eclipse and the Frannie B Elegance line of fabric will release next year, so go to Corinne’s instagram to stay in the know about release dates for both the fabric and pattern.

I love the dark contrast in the background fabric, it showcases all of the other fabrics so well.

When Corinne dropped off her quilts, she wanted modern custom quilting, which I think turned out wonderful. I couldn’t be more pleased. Before I talk about quilting, I used my favorite 8020 cotton poly blend batting from Winline out of Ogden Utah, and Cream Omni thread from Superior Threads. Yes, I used cream on the entire quilt. I couldn’t find a thread to match the background good enough, so…I went with the cream thread, and Corinne and I love it!

Lets talk about scale for a moment… When quilting a quilt like this, I look at the full overall design. The fabric prints, the block design, does it have sashing. Every part, plays a part. For instance…I can do a fun design in the quilt block itself, and then miss the mark by either over quilting the sashing, or doing something that isn’t very harmonious. To be honest, I struggled with what to do in the sashing because the fabric is printed. I love the sashing fabric having a print, because it frames the block nicely, however I needed to quilt something that didn’t make it look busy. A part of me thought stitching right on top of the cross hatch in the fabric would be great, however that would be a lot of quilting. Probably too much quilting. So….I marked the center point on the outside edges of both sides of the sashing strip with a water soluble pen, and quilted two elongated X’s. AND…I loved it!! I thought if it looked bad, I would just unpick the thread and quilt the lines in the fabric. When quilting a sashing I look at how it is going to frame a block, and also frame the block next to it. Really how it starts to frame the entire quilt. You’ll notice the tighter quilting in the solid background too, which makes the lighter quilting in the sashing work so beautifully together. Its all about the combination of lines or angles together. Do they fight each other, or compliment one another. I often refer back to something that I learned in Interior Design school…is it pleasing to the eye and is there a variety in the size or scale of the design? As we are focusing on the 1/2” lines in the background of the block, that cross and create a grid, and the elongated X’s in the sashing…I want to point out the size or scale of them it different. That is why it works. That is why it is pleasing to the eye. Differing sizes or scales create balance. Now, would that work if the X’s were 10 times bigger, probably not. It wouldn’t look proportionate. Keep that in mind as you are custom quilting. I do continue the 1/2” lines in the flying geese background block and the half square triangles along the edges of the block. It can add to the great overall design when something is repeated. That goes back to balance. Even if the designs that are quilted are a little different, or facing a different direction, than say another design.

Now, lets talk curves. With all of the hard lines in the quilt block itself, I love to add curves of some kind, which just softens up the quilt block. I used my 2” Circle2™ machine quilting circle ruler, to quilt all the mini stars in the sashing, with a simple orange peel design. It’s easy to do, yet creates a much needed softness to the sashing and it highlights the star. The scale is great, too. It just a little bigger that the 1/2” lines, yet not as big as the elongated X’s. Can you see how its all coming together???

Now, lets talk about the center part of the block. Because the center piece of fabric is large enough, which is great because it showcases the fabrics beautifully, I have the opportunity to quilt something fun in the center. With everything that is framing the outside of the block, the quilting inside the block, is important. It’s the star of the show…and I need to make it shine. (pun not intended, haha!) I pulled out my 3”/9” Circle2™ ruler, and quilted all of those curves. Minus the freehand loops that I added between the orange peels. All of the orange peel petals are done with my 3” sized circle, and the center curved grid I quilted with the 9” sized circle. That is awesome to use both sides of that particular Circle2™ ruler, on the same design. I did quilt the orange peel and curved grid before quilting the four loops. It helped me have boundaries on where to quilt.

I sure hope that you enjoy learning about my thought process. Custom quilting doesn’t have to be intimidating. If you look at each line or curve, it really is simple. If you want to get started on custom quilting, but are afraid of messing up, pick up some rulers. They can add so much to your quilting, and having that ruler against your hopping foot, allows you to have some stability of sorts. Really, rulers open up soooo many quilting possibilities!!

Now that you have read my thought process when it comes to balance, scale, and overall design. Look at the overall design. Every part flows beautifully into the next. I just love when that happens.

I know that the picture below isn’t the best quality…however, look at that backing. All of that quilty texture makes my heart soooo happy. As a custom freemotion quilter, I never know what the overall design is going to look like on the backing until I take it off the table. And, when it’s this good, I couldn’t be more thrilled about it. The funny thing…It’s never about how its going to look on the backing. That’s just a bonus. It’s all about showcasing the blocks on the front. I will say too, there are some quilters who are huge believers in quilting in every single ditch. (or seam) I am not one of them. If I did that, the backing wouldn’t look this good. Do I see the benefit of quilting in the ditch to travel to another block, so I don’t have to stop the thread and cut it, yes. However, I try and figure out how to quilt as much as possible without stopping and try to avoid a lot of extra unnecessary lines. More on continuous quilting another day. Maybe that would be a great video to share. Would that interest you? Let me know in the comments below.

Also, just notice below…The elongated X’s and orange peel stars together. Creating another star, and that beautiful center is just such a sweet touch. Then add the stars framing around the block, ahhh…its just so good. This is what I love about custom quilting.

I hope you enjoyed a more in depth description into my custom quilting. Come back soon, I always have more to share.

And…watch out for Corinne’s next pattern release, next week. Its a good one…and was such a fun one to quilt.

These are the rulers that I used. The 3”/9” above and the 2” below. I looked and looked for years for a circle ruler set, and couldn’t find one that I liked. So, I designed my Circle2™ ruler set. It’s everything that I have wanted in a circle ruler set. I have only 6 rulers, yet I have 12 different sizes of circles, ranging in size from 2” up to 13”. The 3/4th of a circle design helps you navigate the ruler around easily as you quilt. It’s fun to see what others have created with them, too. Head over to the instagram hashtag #circle2rulers and check them out.

Circle2™ Ruler - Design Patent D875,574 -

The 3”/9” and the 2”/8” rulers pictured above are the green version, and below is the clear set of Circle2™ rulers all stacked on top of one another.

You’ll notice that the rulers have a straight edge with measurements along it, and the holes for easy hanging up. They are made from 1/4” high quality acrylic, in the USA.

BONUS… My Circle2™ rulers are on sale right now!! No code necessary. While you’re there, check out my digital quilting designs and Quilting It Freemotion course. Something for every quilter. Sale ends Sunday November 21st at midnight, mountain standard time.

I hope that you have a great week, and happy quilting. -Leisha