Cindy’s Raincheck quilt~! Including 28 different background quilting designs...
This beautiful quilt was made by Cindy, and she requested custom designs throughout. She sent me some pictures from Camille Roskelley’s blog, when she posted about this quilt back when she realeased the pattern in 2013. Pattern is called Raincheck, by Camille or you can find it on her Thimble Blossoms website. Fabrics are from her and her moms April Showers line.
I noticed a variety of designs on Camille’s quilt, so I just went to town and did a variety of different free motion designs in the backgrounds of each umbrella block. This quilt has 49 blocks in it. I did do 49 designs, but I was able to do 28 different background designs. Some are similar, especially when it comes to lines, but they are still different in some way. So, I’m going to share oodles of pictures in this post, and hopefully I can show all 28.
I used 2 rulers to quilt this quilt. I used Linda’s from thequiltedpineapple.com 16” Edge ruler for all the lines. If you’ve heard me talk about or read about her rulers, I love them. The lines on her rulers are an excellent guide, which means I don’t have to mark anything. I also used one of my Circle2™ rulers, the 2”/8” circle, to quilt all the arcs in the solid umbrellas. The umbrellas with stripes, got a variety of different designs in the middle stripe.
This is my 2”/8” circle ruler from my Circle2™ set, that I used for the arcs in the solid umbrellas. They are available in a set of 6 rulers, ranging from 2” to 13” circles. Go to: https://www.quiltingit.com/shop/?category=Rulers
Before I start numbering off all the designs, I used an Omni Superior Thread, color Pearl White. Cindy sent a Kyoto Bamboo batting.
Designs...I’ll write the description for the designs, below each picture.
1- 1/2” vertical lines
2- a rippled echo
3- 1” left diagonal lines
4- little tiny close together loops
5- swirls
6- swirly feathers
7- random petals or feathers
8- wavy horizontal lines
9- arcs
10- square swirls
11- wonky swirls
12- scallops
13- 1/2” left diagonal lines
14- pebbles with circles inside some
The other two were mentioned in the previous picture.
15- 1” vertical lines
16- crackle
17- flowers with feathers and swirls
18- 1/2” diagonal diamonds (created by quilting 1/2” vertical lines and 1/2” diagonal lines)
19- stipple
20- pinstripes (1/4” pinstripes with 1/2” spacing between each line)
21- echoed pebbles (by going around the pebbles a few times, the thread makes the pebble pop and be more defined). I love this!
22- horizontal 1/2” lines
23- a meandering leaf
24- overlaid swirls
25- swirly wind
26- grassy texture
27- 3/4” squares
28- vertical up and down design that kind of echos...I don’t know how to describe this one, zoom in to the bottom right umbrella with the aqua background and you can see the quilting better.
Yay!! I’m glad I had pictures of each of the designs. Because of fabrics are busy on some blocks, you can’t see the quilting very good. Just zoom in using your two fingers on your phone.
So, the first four rows have all different backgrounds. With the last three rows, I repeated the same designs from the first three rows. So row 5 got the same background designs, that row 1 has, I just mixed up the order to make it more random. Row 6 got the same as row 2, and row 7 got the same as row 3. Doing this made the backgrounds cohesive and travel throughout the quilt, without it having to be in the same spot on the rows where I repeated it. Now...you may be thinking awesome, there are a lot of different designs I can use or you may be thinking, they aren’t really different enough to count as 28 different designs. They are still different, even if it’s just a difference in measurement, and they create a different texture. So, one thing to keep in mind when doing so many different background designs, you need to keep it cohesive or it looks over done like nothing is flowing or harmonious. The variety of line designs are great, because they add variety and yet are similar enough to still work together. The freehand all over designs are also important to keep cohesive, and I do this by pulling inspiration from the fabrics and quilt pattern, or the overall theme of the quilt. That’s why I feel that these 28 designs work so well together.
Now I want to show you a close up on some of my favorites. Pictured above and below are two completely different line designs, that I use quite a bit in small doses. For instance, I use them in all sorts of appliqué shapes. They are great on rooftops or bands on a hat, or even texture on the clothing of a character. Santa, witches, elves, ...you name it. I like textures like these in those random oddly shaped appliqué pieces. Lines of any kind are awesome appliqué filler. These two just dress it up a notch. I did both of them using Linda’s Edge rulers. Which I can’t give enough praises!! If you don’t have great straight rulers, check hers out at thequiltedpineapple.com
I talked about these pebbles a little in the description of design number 21, they really really make the batting pop and this is a thinner batting. I love the texture it creates. I love clean quilting, that’s my personal style, but sometimes the denser quilting is oh so good!!!
I love a good swirly wind, which is fun going in all different directions.
I tried to created ripple in the block, pictured below, and I think it turned out great with that polka dot background. I noticed some designs were just going to be too busy looking on some of the busy fabrics, that’s also why I did a variety of different lines designs.
I should just call the background below bubbles...that what it reminds me of with the circles inside the circles. It’s great, because it adds interest to the freehand pebble filler. I also love to add swirls inside some of the circles sometimes. It adds variety and helps in the overall randomness of the design. It’s important to distribute the filler inside the pebbles so it helps the eye travel and not just focus on one spot.
Below is one of my very favorites!! I love the randomness of the feathers or petals going in a bunch of different directions. It’s such a fun design to freehand.
You should get an award, if you read through this whole post. And, I know 21 pictures is a ton, but it’s much easier to see what I’m talking about, if you have a visual to look at. Thank you!!
I hope this post is a great reference for the variety of different designs and textures you can create in the custom quilting that you do. You may have a whole slew of other designs that you do...I’d love to hear about them in the comments below, and if you have a post including some background fillers, please include a link. I’d love to check it out. Thanks again for coming to my little place in the quilting world
Happy Quilting!!
-Leisha
Beth’s Vintage Holiday quilt
Beth made this super cute “Vintage Holiday” (pattern by Thimble Blossoms), for a store sample for Stylish Fabrics in Logan, Utah. She used the new Christmas line by Bonnie and Camille, Vintage Holiday.
Beth asked me to use Patricia Ritter and my Marmalade©️ design, to quilt it. Marmalade is so vercital, I’ve seen it on several different kinds of quilts with a variety of fabrics and patterns. It’s fun and happy!!! Marmalade is available at Urban Elementz or go to... https://www.urbanelementz.com/catalogsearch/result/?cat=0&q=Marmalade you can see all the different options we have available for this particular design.
Aren’t those swirls, pebbles, and feathers so sweet?!?!?!!
A close up on some of my favorite blocks...
And, another two...it’s hard to pick one favorite!
I used a white Perma Core A&E 30 Tex thread, and Beth brought some 8020 cotton poly blend batting.
This is the cutest ornament quilt I’ve seen!
Beth also made a mini quilt version of this quilt, and I was able to shrink the design down to just under 5”. Which was perfect for the mini quilt.
Here is a great size comparison for the quilting on the regular and mini quilt. I’m trying to remember, but I think the size of the quilting pattern on the regular quilt was just over 9” and for the mini it was just under 5”.
Sorry for the overload of pictures...I just had to include them all. Haha!
have a great week!
- leisha