Leave It Beautiful in Twilight

 The paintstik’d leaves with purple-blue-magenta rich tones were my inspiration to begin. And I decided to try them on a deep, rich, traditional brown; a batik with lighter toned brown swirls… perfect for the fall theme. I loved the contrast, too. Purple on brown.  And even better, I liked how the brown batik grounded the entire quilt, giving it a just a touch more realistic feel—like the bark of a tree. An appealing backdrop, compatible with the contemporary feel of the leaves. 

Razzle Dazzle thread is couched (#39 foot) onto the seam of the inside border

 I knew I wanted the quilting lines-motifs to be reminiscent of a light evening breeze, in a cool dusky setting as the last of the twilight fades into dark.

 I started with King Tut ELS cotton 40 weight.  It was a bit challenging to see as I quilted it as it blended so well with this batik background fabric.

 And I knew I wanted contrast with the brown thread.  So I turned to my thread stash, and selected a Rainbow (these are all Superior threads).  Rainbow is a 40 weight, variegated polyester.  Oooh!  Now we’re talking.  Highlights the color of the leaves without overpowering the leaves.  Provides contrast and movement you can really see against the quilt, and yet harmonizes with the brown thread too, as it’s the same undulating lines and soft waves.

 I used colors of thread (poly 40 weight) in the border quilting, but did it in two more new colors… leaf green with a leaf motif, and orange for the swirls, picking up a bit of the border fabric that contains purple-blues, oranges, & greens.

 The binding in the picture looks mostly pink… but it has multiple colors; subtle stripey coloration, containing blue, purple and pinkish purples. 

 It takes more time to work in two different colorways… planning the color changes, thinking… and alot of  fun to see the contrast. It was exciting for me to quilt with the purple-blue thread, and I had to be careful not to overdo it.  It would have overshadowed the quilt overall, and I only wanted that blue to accent and show off the leaves.   The brown thread recedes… just the way I like it.  And the blue pops forward.  Dark colors have a tendency to recede… light comes forward.

 For the first time, I used Wonder Under fusible web for the leaves.  It was easier to quilt through than the Steam A Seam product. I’m anxious to try Misty Fuse fusible web next.

I didn’t trapunto the leaves, as you may have noticed in the green-red leaf quilt: RED Autumn from earlier posts. They still pop up, but not quite as much.

 The bobbin thread is Superior Masterpiece Cotton 50 weight, and the back fabric a pretty commercial batik. You can see that I’ve quilted around the leaves, as they were free motioned appliqued prior to the layering of fabric and batting.

Tough to find good light these days as there are so many long shadows when I get home… but just look at the gorgeous sidewalk!! LOL.  And this is the quilt without the ‘edge’ treatments.  After this photo was taken, I added yarn and Razzle Dazzle (Superior) as an inside edge trim next to the yarn on the binding seam, and then a turquoise blue on the inside seam of the border. Of course I used my ‘go-to-girls’ — foot #43 free motion couching & my #39 traditional couching/clear embroidery foot for adding those elegant little touches.

Special thanks to Jocelyn and Jean; I picked Jeans’ name, “Leave It Beautiful” but added “Twilight” to it.  Jocelyn’s suggestion of “Chantilly” gives me more inspiration for a future thread session! I’m so appreciative; thank you ladies! 


EnJOY the weekend; we’re having a gorgeous Montana Indian Summer!