I have a friend and client who contacted me a couple of months ago and asked me to make her a custom “Peacock” themed quilt. No problem, I said. LOL. Over that three month period, I mused, bought Electric Quilt 8 (EQ8), mused some more, and finally refined the idea to a pattern that I was happy with. I really hoped she would be, as well.

During my planning, I went through several layouts that I was not terribly keen about. I liked them, but they were all lacking some how. Here is one of them.

The first thing I did for this quilt was to purchase the panel I wanted to use for the medallion center of the quilt. Then I surfed the net to find outer borders that I liked on other quilts and layered the images to see what it might look like. This border is from an award winning quilt at some show (I can’t remember where), and I really liked the look. As much as I like to do applique, I was really not keen on doing this much applique, so I pulled the panel into EQ8 and started auditioning different borders until I found several that I liked. I placed colors and played with piecing angles until I had the quilt top the way I wanted it to look. Here is the image from EQ8.

The image above is a rough idea of how the quilt should look. Here is what it looks like after I pieced, quilted and bound it.

I chose a variegated purple-green thread that I happened to have in my collection for the top quilting thread and lavender for the back. The swirl pattern worked out just great for the feathery look I was going for.

Finally, the client wanted her mother’s name on the label and nothing else, so I embroidered that for her and placed it before binding.

This one, like all the quilts I make, was a learning experience. Some quilts teach me more than others. I was happy that I was able to take something from concept to completion using EQ8. That was fun, a little complicated, occasionally frustrating, but the end result was worth it. I am happy to have it as one more tool in my box.

If you read this, please leave me a comment, subscribe to my blog, and visit me on Facebook and Youtube. I would be so happy to know your thoughts and maybe what you would like to see me post next. Any quilting or sewing questions out there? Nothing is too basic for me to help you with. Let’s create together!!

~Deborah