Quite often I do several different bits of quilting at the beginning of quilting stage, since I find that often what I have had in mind during the lengthy construction stage just isn’t “it” when I actually put it into effect.

This is such a quilt. As pledged, I did make a start on the quilting on tuesday, but let it sit in this state yesterday while I darted out to book group and the following book selection meeting.
I have just re-read Michener’s Chesapeake, first read maybe 25 years ago in a Michener phase, but I have been intrigued with how much I had forgotten of it, and how much it seemed almost a different book – surprising too, since one family of offsprings have lived on the Eastern Shore for the last 7 or 8 years, and we are regular visitors to the area. A fabulous part of the US, and I just love it.

But I digress. Since I am using #8 and #12 perle, and have several gradations of those sandy neutral shades and some black, I ‘ve decided to vary the quilting colour for each block but use the same kind of reasonably large stitch treatment, as above, all over. The bit done in the fine (ie ‘normal’ quilting thread) is just too delicate for the subject matter of this quilt, which is developing an almost masculine, certainly rugged character; and today I will pull that fine stuff out.