Chillingsworth Quilts (#38 & #39)

A half yard bundle of Chillingsworth fabric made two great skeleton quilts - inspired by a picture from the International Quilt Market, June 2014.

Left:  59" x 69"             Right:  60" x 69"

The quilt tops were cut and sewn at the same time to help me keep track of the layouts. 

They sat finished for a year, waiting for me to learn free motion quilting so I could stitch around the skeletons.  I never learned so it was time to experiment.

I did a grid pattern that was pretty nice - using this video from Nancy Zieman.  She uses this technique on a placemat but I found it also works on something as large as the skeleton panel (24"x44").  My lines are spaced 3" apart and since this panel didn't have an edge to sew off - I just sewed down the side of the panel until I came to a part that needed quilting.  This panel was done with one continuous line of stitching, following a grid made with a Washable Wonder blue marker.

This skeleton panel was done free form using a walking foot - going forward & backwards and around the image ... much harder since my sewing machine was too small for so much minky & batting stuffed into the throat. Never again!

The darker areas of the quilt were sewn with broken zigzags and straight stitching.  Aurifil 50wt. thread was used for piecing & quilting - and worked really well tension wise - the grey stayed on the top, the light sand on the bottom. 

Materials:
Chillingsworth /designed by Echo Park
Aurifil 50wt.
Warm & White batting
Minky / dimple dot beige
July 2015