Quilting the Sun Rays Quilt

Are you working on a Sun Rays Quilt?  This one took me a bit of time to decide what to do for quilting it.  For the cover photo on the pattern, I wanted to design some unique elements to fill the background space.  All the quilting was designed and digitized with Art and Stitch software -- although the designs could also be executed with both domestic machines and hand-guided longarm set-ups.

Let's start with how I analyzed the quilt top.  I will use my EQ drawing as it is a little easier to draw out my designs on it.

EQ Backdrop

Spaces for Unique Quilting Designs

I came up with two primary elements to feature in my quilting.

Leaf Variation

Circle with Swirl

For the pieced border (section 1), I decided to go with a point to point design using the single swirl in the center of the leaf.

I copied the swirl, rotated it 180 degrees and then added an entry and an exit arc.

For Section 2, I created a magic circle of the leaf variation and then connected the four elements.

For the sashing (Sections 3 and 4), I started with duplicating, flipping and rotating the circle with swirl element.  I then used Magic Square.

The next step was to add the tan stars design.  I used a small tear drop to connect all the elements together.  For the partial sashing I did a variation on this same theme.

For the border design, I created another point to point.  I started with the leaf and added the circle and swirl.  I also needed to echo one side of the leaf to get to starting point of the next leaf.

I then copied the leaf and mirror imaged it.  I then connected to the sections.  I liked this design as it allowed for some stretching/shrinking to ensure the design fit into my final borders.

Here are a few close-ups of the finished quilt.

Close-up of Block, Sashing and Pieced Border Quilting

Close-up of Border Quilting.

In my video last week, I mentioned I was working on a wall hanging sized quilt.  Let me share the finished quilt.

Sun Rays Quilt using Softly Spoken fabric from Marcus Brothers

This quilt was pieced using the Softly Spoken collection by Marcus Brothers.  For quilting the wall hanging I decided to use a pantograph by Jessica Schick from Digitech.  I thought it added some nice curves to the geometric piecing.

The Sun Rays pattern is available for purchase in my online store.  Four sizes are included in the quilt.

Happy quilting.

Kari

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