Machine Quilting: Coxcomb

I have to say that the part I enjoy most about my "job" has been meeting so many amazing people! There are so many of those people that have become friends and this story is about one of them.

Sue Wilson is a Certified Instructor of Judy Niemeyer patterns, the Cotton Theory and she is a Thread Ambassador for Superior Threads. In the world of quilting, she's been there, done that, or is planning to. Her energy and enthusiasm is inspiring and I encourage you to take a class from her if you have a chance. She's based out of both Ohio and Alaska (depending on the time of year) and you can find her classes at several large quilt events in the Midwest. To read more about Sue, click here.

 Well, anywho, Sue teaches at Cottonpickers from time to time and we have so much fun picking out fabrics and planning which of Judy's patterns to do next between Mom, her and I. Sue usually does one of her samples of Judy's patterns as close to the cover as possible and this is her "cover" sample of Judy's Coxcomb pattern. I was thrilled when she asked me to quilt it for her!

 This quilt has a ton of applique mixed with some interesting piecing. I promise you this quilt doesn't go together how you think it would! Sue told me to have fun and make the applique pop so that's exactly what I did.

 With as many pieces and shapes as there were to go around, I chose a mixture of swirls, pebbles and headbands to fill in the background. That way there's some shape or size to fit an any weird area I may have to fill.

 I also pebbled down the vein of each of the appliqued feathers and I love how it looks! To get the trapunto-look, I used the Dream Puff batting that is quickly becoming my favorite.

 Here you can see some of the vein pebbling better. Interestingly enough, I used the same thread on the entire top of the quilt, it looks like I used more than that, but the fabrics were so creamy, a light yellow looked great on both.

 I know it's hard to see the way the applique and flowers stand out, but I was taking these pictures at night and it's hard to show some details when you don't have good natural light.

 My favorite part of the whole quilt was s couple small dragonflys I hid in the quilting. You can see one in the picture above. I just got myself in a mindset to crank the music, block out all other thoughts in my mind and quilt what seemed right. It was a marathon of quilting, but I got this quilt done in one sitting. I was a hurting puppy when I was done, but I love how it turned out so it doesn't matter :)

So, if you sign up for the Coxcomb class with Sue Wilson, you'll probably see this quilt. I cannot thank her enough for letting me "play" on her quilt and I hope you all like it too! I think I'm about due for another day of locking myself in the quilting room and cranking the music to see what happens. :)