Home & Finished Wholecloth called "Envy"

We have returned from our trip to Europe and have had a fabulous time.  It is great to be home again and we are settling back into our usual routine.  I have started quilting again, however, at this stage I would like to share a quilt I finished just before we went overseas.

In April this year I took part in the online Wholecloth Design and Execution Course through MQ Resource.  I have previously blogged the design stage of my quilt which can be seen here.

Having completed my customer quilts before travelling overseas, I took some time to mark and quilt my wholecloth quilt.  I wanted a quilt which wasn't going to blend into my walls at home and therefore chose a bright green shot cotton by Kaffe Fassett.

The marking stage proved a huge task - each motif had to be traced in blue marker on to the quilt top.  I was excited to learn, however, that I would not need to buy a light box.  A trip to our local hardware store for the purchase of a sheet of perspex and, together with some kitchen chairs and a desk lamp, I was set.

Having marked the quilt I wasn't going to quilt it straight away.  However, I found that after a few weeks the blue lines were starting to fade.  I didn't want the time I had spent marking to have been wasted so onto the frame the quilt went.

I used 2 layers of wadding - 1 layer of Nu-wool wadding which is a mix of 60% wool and 40% poly and 1 layer of Matilda's Own 100% Cotton.  The thread I used was Aurifil 50wt which quilted beautifully - it has a lovely sheen to it.

Initially I quilted all the motifs which didn't prove as difficult as I had anticipated.  Having quilted all the motifs I removed the quilt and removed the blue marker pen with water.

The quilt then went back on to complete the border with cross-hatching, curved cross-hatching in the centre of the motifs, pebbles in the spines and lots of pebbles for the background quilting.  I think I found the back-ground quilting the hardest part - pebbles do take a lot of time to quilt but I do love the end result.

Here are some close-ups of some of the motifs:-

I am thrilled with the end result of my little "Envy" Wholecloth Quilt - the course was wonderful, I learned a lot and enjoyed the process.  Perhaps there is a larger wholecloth quilt in me yet...