Finished Crawl then Sprint for Color

Crawl then Spring for Color's public debut-see the bling!?!

Crawl then Sprint for Color made her public debut this past Monday for our monthly SCVQA meeting show and tell.

Afterwards, we drape our quilts in the back few rows for members to see up close during the half-time break.  I headed back to take some close ups for the guild's website/newsletter and received several compliments and questions about my quilt.  A few women wanted to know about my thread selection, as they commented the quilt sparkled!  So I shared that I used Superior Threads Glitter thread in Crystal to create some "bling."  Several were surprised that I didn't have any tension issues, until I gave away my secret technique of using it in the bobbin thread and Aurofil thread in the top, and quilted the entire quilt from the back!  It was still a bit tricky loading up my bobbins as I could only get 1/4-2/3 full before the thread would ravel and not load smoothly.

Taking a leap of faith and quilting from the back

I found this great fabric for the quilt backing that had wavy lines, so all I had to do was guide my walking foot along the bolder lines, which were space every 1" or so.  Of course, I first tested this technique using a spare block to create a sample quilt sandwich.  After zooming back and forth without any tension woes...I gave it a whirl on the full sized quilt.  After the first wavy line, I checked the front to make sure there weren't any tucks or skipped stitches...and to my relief it was perfect!  So I continued and would check again every few rows at first and then stopped checking altogether.  Amazingly enough, my thread never once snapped or presented any tension issues.  The only issue I had during the quilting phase was 100% user error as I ignored the low bobbin warning and it ran out midway through the wavy line.  Since it was end to end quilting, I just had to tuck in that one thread...which was a sweet treat!

Corner with fun border and sparkly quilting

And I found that great black and white border print...which is a bit loud in larger quantities.  But as it was only in thin strips and binding---it was just perfect!  And after visiting 2 or 3 quilt shops, I found the outer border fabric which was not only the perfect shade of purple, but it also had wavy lines to tie in with the wavy theme!  Score!

This quilt will be shown at our upcoming SCVQA Quilt Show April 20th-21st.  I finished sewing on the quilt sleeve and just need to sew on an official label.  I will need to find a more permanent place to display her at home as this is a beauty!

Crawl then Sprint for Color hanging out on a beatiful breezy day