Good Morning, Quilters!
I’ve been busy, busy, busy stitching away on a quilt for my friend, Annie Smith.
You may remember that I quilted one of her blocks several months ago...I was nervous to get started because Annie’s appliqué and designs are award-winning. (She wrote The Ultimate Applique Guidebook: 150 Patterns, Hand & Machine Techniques, History, Step-by-Step Instructions, Keys to Design & Inspiration
Annie is a Quilt Judge!
Did you ever notice that being nervous makes your quilting worse, not better?
I had to put away my desire for perfection and just start quilting.
Once I relaxed, the stitches flowed better.
ANNIE SMITH-AURIFIL DESIGNER
Recently, Annie was asked to be an Aurifil designer. She got to choose 2 sets of 10 threads that will be marketed with her name and her quilt on the label. As part of the promotion, Annie created two quilts and asked me to quilt them!
I was delighted, and (again) nervous…
The flowers are beautiful, and look stunning on the black background… but I have never quilted on black before so this took me out of my comfort zone…(and you know, we are always told that’s supposed to be a good thing?!?)
The good news…I had all of the colors in Aurifil’s new Annie Smith Collection available as my palette.
I started the machine quilting as outlined in my Eight Step to Quilting on Appliqué
To give the design unity, I replicated some of the appliqué motifs in the machine quilting.
The bright colored thread added emphasis to a few design details, while the darker thread receded into the background.
I chose a dark brown thread on the black background. This allowed the quilting to be visible, while not competing with the appliqué.
Annie will be showing the full quilt at Quilt Market in Houston this weekend when Aurifil introduces her new thread collection!
Can’t wait to see her standing in front of the finished quilt!
Photos to follow….
Now back to a little (very little) house cleaning, laundry and maybe I’ll make dinner this week?!
Oh–and emails…I’m way behind on emails…so if YOU sent me an email….
Blame Annie!
Lori
PS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy at The Inbox Jaunt and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to re-blog, pin or share with attribution to The Inbox Jaunt. For all other purposes, please contact me at lckennedy@hotmail.com. Thanks!
46 comments
Jacqueline Lee Lambie
Dear, dear Lori,
But for you, I probably wouldn’t be a FMQer. I began following you in March of 2015, doodling pads of paper, stitching piles of Quilt sandwiches. Once we communicated wit me directly; I was happy. I persevere and have just given a Granddaughter my first completely FMQed offering.
The Quilt you are making for Annie Smith is beyond lovely. Looking at it and reading your words prompts me to step into the world of Appliqué. Thank you for sharing this with us. Please write more, I think we all learn from you.
Much love ❤️ Jacqueline Lambie
Lori Kennedy
Thank you, thank you for your kind note! It is music to my ears to hear that I have contributed to YOUR success! We will tackle appliqué…tutorials coming soon!
Donna
Did you shudder at first at the thought of brown on black? I would thinks so. But, it is absolutely the perfect thing and the whole picture is perfection… and, why would we expect anything else?
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I did shudder a bit. But I stitched a lot of samples and immediately knew brown was the right choice!
nimmi158
Fabulous as always! Beautiful work and well presented! Thank you so much!
Kirsty
Oh ! That is absolutely gorgeous Lori, you’re amazing!
Susan J.
Simply gorgeous! I love it!!!
Denise Mohler
Wow that is breath taking. I hope to be able to quilt like that one day. Absolutely gorgeous!!!!!!
Suzy Webster
Absolutely stunning! I love the brown thread on black. It’s so hard to quilt black on black without your eyes going batty!
suzanne guthrie
More thanks, and more learning! Appreciate your comments of your learning along the way
Virginia Hanson
Absolutely gorgeous quilting on an already lovely piece. You do great work. Thanks for sharing and looking forward to see the finished product.
Bernadette
Exquisite! Thank you for sharing
Janette Billings
What a breath taking combo.
Thank you for sharing.
Christine B.
Wow, Lori your quilting is just phenomenal!! This is such a stunning quilt but it has been really brought to life by the quilting. Working on black must be really scary!! Can’t wait to see the finished quilt! Christine x
Lori Kennedy
Yes, Christine–it did make me nervous to work on black–but after stitching a few samples, I could see it was a winning combo!
Mary
OMG, your quilting is beautiful.
Delaine in Oregon
I am going to the Quilt Show in Houston next week. I will look for your quilt!!
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Say Hi to Annie. Ans send photos!
Joy
I love seeing your quilting on actual quilts. This is fantastic.
Gerry
Just beautiful! I never know what to quilt, and you always seem to know what to do.
Kathy h
That really is a beautiful applique quilt and your quilting adds so much to it as usual. Love it!
Conchita Quilt
Beautiful, I’m speechless!
Sally
Wow. Love how well the quilting goes along with the applique. Such a pretty combination!
Marsha
It looks amazing!
Mary Lou Steinbauer
Your work is beyond words, very inspiring.
Ann
I can’t wait to see this at market! It’s SO perfect, Lori, you did a wonderful job of coordinating your quilting with Annie’s beautiful (colorful!) design. What a great idea to use brown on black.
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Please take a picture at Market! I havent seen it bound and hanging.
Ann
Will do!
kaholly
Not only stunning, but very inspirational. I sew love to come for a visit. Not a post goes by that I don’t learn a little something. Slowly, it all sinks in! Thank you for all of the sharing that you do.
Michelle
That is stunning! Love the touch of color stitches around the applique. Great idea!!
Ana
Beautiful work from both of you!
Maureen Douwes
WOW! that is so beautiful! Both the applique and also the quilting. Just wondering what batting you used here?
Carol Claytor
You’re amazing! The quilting is beautiful.
Patti Kaplan
So beautiful!
Linda
Stunning! I absolutely love the applique AND the quilting. You are so good at knowing just what to quilt!
Nancy
So Beautiful!! I would of never thought of using dark brown on the black. Turned out fantastic!! Thanks for sharing.
Becky Shaffer
Gorgeous, Lori! Your quilting never ceases to amaze me! I’m anxious for Annie’s thread collection to be available.
quilter1522
Beautiful, Lori! As always, your work is inspiring. Thanks for sharing!
Cynthia
Wow! The beautiful quilts are enhanced my your exquisite quilting.
quilty2
My long time friend, also an AS, passed years ago. And, yet, this brought me joy! Beautiful. The quilt and the quilting. Thank you for sharing.
Pam Arbour
The dark brown looks terrific on the black. I have several black background quilts that I need to quilt. I bought grey thread for one of them. Thanks for suggesting the brown. I will have to try that on one of them.
knottedthreadtales
Wow! Gorgeous work, as ever. Both appliqué and quilting are winners!
Judy Chastain
Beautiful quilting, Lori! Your work definitely enhances Annie’s quilt.
Gail Lockington
love it…. you share so much!
Pamela North
The dark brown thread looks terrific on the black and the designs you’ve chosen really complement the appliqué.
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