Modern Quilting

As Quilt Con is finishing up I have seen and read quite a bit about the show and modern quilting.  There are several sites where people showcase their modern quilts; I enjoy seeing the clean, crisp lines, the bright colors contrasting against subdued backgrounds, very contemporary... anyway, all this has prompted me to try a modern quilt myself.  I found this great thread, it's a varigated black and white with interval changes ranging between 1 to 3 inches.  I thought it would be cool to make a black and white quilt and LA quilt it with this thread, hopefully the thread will disappear and reappear as it passes over the dark and light areas. I downloaded a free pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop, Full Swing Quilt Pattern by Rachel Griffith.  With the larger pieces it only took 10 hours to sew together. I want to use a pantograph pattern, (I've had my LA since Aug 2012 and have yet to try a panto!) but I may change my mind after seeing some of the great modern quilting out there.  I'll post pictures later...right now my nightmare is Jamaican me Crazy!  This quilt is has given me several problems and is truly makin' me crazy! First, I started quilting this on my home sewing machine (before I had a LA) and I tried to finish it up on the longarm.....quilting on each of these machines is very different, I had to continue to quilt from the center outward and ended up with PUCKERS! and picking out....and more puckers! and picking, well, you get the idea. I got through the quilting and onto blocking.  Which leads to the second problem, bleeding.  Although I prewashed, the beautiful batik aqua has decided to escape onto my glittery creamy/white areas! aghhhhh!!!  For the past 3 days, I have tub soaked in cold water, synthrapol, shout, and color catchers, keeping my fingers crossed.  Now if after all this there are still blue areas, I don't know exactly what I will do....maybe creative embellishment... time will tell.


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