Machine Quilting: Cactus Rose

Doris is at it again! I tell you, this woman means business!

 In true Doris fashion, this quilt wasn't meant to be this large, but a few borders can grow it to the size you want! And it's in the usual colors of blue, purple and green for her quilts.

 She told me to "do my thing" and so I started playing. I've been playing recently with more ruler work and I couldn't get enough on this quilt. This is how it started. I outlined the compass and applique filling in the smaller areas as I went.

 Then I filled in the compass and most of the center.

 Then I moved to add swirls outside of each compass. Notice that really cool pickle dish type border towards the left of the picture? Yeah, a little more ruler work there...

 Then I switched to a bit darker thread and finished the center of the compass.

 And finished the borders. Sometimes if a border is too thin, I may combine them with another border like I did here with the purple and green thin borders.

 This quilt is definitely one that makes a statement and I can only hope my quilting did it enough justice.

Here's a better shot of the various borders. I added in these neat feathers to separate the pickle dish border from the square borders. Doris is a fan of feathers, so I knew this little touch would be something she'd like. It was really fun to play with the design and come up with new treatments for new shapes. Quilts like this one always present new challenges like that for me.

Thanks, Doris! As usual you did a beautiful job!

This pattern is the Cactus Rose by Quiltworx (Judy Niemeyer). It also comes smaller if you don't want to tackle that much applique :)

If you have a quilt you'd like me to long arm for you, please email me at rubybluequilts (at) gmail (dot) com for more information!