Only love can build a home…

I recently finished quilting this wall hanging for a client and while I don’t always post about each customer quilt I do, sometimes there’s something specific I would like to share and I can use the project as an example.

When I’m working on a panel of any size or style, there are decisions to make about how to take it from flat to textured without interfering with the artwork already present. A pieced quilt top will generally have a little bit of dimension already with the various seams going on, but with a panel you are basically working with a flat picture. When it’s a baby quilt, I try to keep it more open (less dense) and often the shapes and pictures are large enough to outline and work inside of without adding too much stiffness.

On a wall hanging, the density is more welcomed and can actually help in the end to keep everything stabilized so that it doesn’t droop on the wall.

This one has a lot of detail all over it so I was dealing with grass and trees and buildings and people and sky and … you get the picture, literally! haha So I wanted to give it lots of texture and at the same time keep certain areas from becoming too densely stitched so they would pop up (or “off” the wall) for dimension. In this case, I chose to let the buildings pop and pack down the landscape. So they got some thread work – leaving them totally unquilted would definitely cause those areas to droop when it hangs – but just enough to bring them to life. the blending thread lets you see the texture but not necessarily all the stitching.