There are times I work on a quilt and I think, “I should probably blog about this”. Then there are times that I work on a quilt and I think, “I can’t freaking wait to blog about this!!”
Today’s quilt is definitely the latter…….it’s safe to safe that it’s a bear-y adorable quilt! Sorry for the puns, I just can’t help it!
I just finished this quilt for Tula Pink, which she made using her newest fabric collection, Spirit Animal. It’s truly amazing, the colors are vivid and the prints are awesome….where does all her talent come from? To see some of the prints in the collection, click here.
She made this quilt using Elizabeth Hartman’s super popular quilt pattern, Bjorn Bear.
Seriously……the cuteness is too much! I am pretty sure I am going to have to make this quilt for myself…dang, there’s another project to add to my U.F.O. (unfinished object) pile.
Machine Quilting Animals
In my experience, I have learned that it can be tricky quilting blocks that are supposed to be a human face or an animal. Too much quilting detail can have a freaky looking result. But, adding just a little detail can be amazing!
So in the blocks, I quilted some gently wavy lines. I like how it resembles fur, without being overly complicated.
Quilting the wavy lines so that they wrap around the bottom of the “face” is an easy way to add just a little more detail…….doesn’t it look so cute?
It’s amazing how something as simple as a wavy line can look so impactful on a quilt! It’s a great reminder that quilting doesn’t have to be overly complex to look interesting!
Deciding to quilt the wavy lines was easy….it was figuring out how to quilt the “nose” that threw me for a loop. You would think that having machine quilted as much as I have, coming up with designs wouldn’t be difficult. But the truth of the matter is that it happens quite often.
Finally, after putting it off as long as I could, I decided to resort to my favorite techniques….echoing and Dot to Dot Quilting.
Echoing the area helped fill in the space and some geometric quilting added some dimension to the face without going overboard. Well….at least that is how I rationalized the design to myself! Sometimes, you only have to convince yourself!
The funny thing is that even though it took me forever to decide how to quilt the nose, it’s probably one of my favorite areas of the quilt. Well…..besides the feathers….you do know that I love to quilt feathers, right?
Winding Feathers
I love feathering a quilt until it could fly away…..but sometimes the quilt that I am working on doesn’t have room for the big curvy feathers that I like to quilt. Do I let that deter me? Definitely not, I squeeze them in anyway! What can I say? I can be quite determined.
Quilting the feathers so that they wrap around and behind the blocks allows me to fit them into smaller areas. I also love how they can add a look of depth to the quilt. It’s almost like the blocks are hovering in front of the background filler. (Can you tell that I am easily amused?!?)
To help show off the feathers even more, I quilted teeny tiny pebbles around them.
What? I can’t help it if I like to show off the quilting….just a little.
But what if I didn’t like how the feathers turned out? I definitely wouldn’t rip it out. Instead, I would have quilted a filler design that was more similar in density and shape, something like a swirl.
Thankfully, in this case, everything turned out ok so there was no need to hide it.
How about a few more pictures? I just love how quilting can really add detail and interest to a quilt….and in this case, I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out!
Your Turn!
Obviously I had a blast machine quilting this quilt! It was one of those moments where everything turned out just exactly like I hoped it would. Have you had a quilt turn out better than you expected? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
I’ll be back soon with the next episode of the Midnight Quilt Show….I can’t wait to show you what antics I have been up to! Happy Quilting!
Ugh! I made my bears with flannel & the seams were really thick even with swirling them. Made it really difficult on my longarm. But I got through it. It doesn’t look anywhere as nice as yours!
Terrific quilting on a beautiful quilt pattern with stunning fabrics … what more could you want? Adore the bees in the swirls at the top there, and the feathers scrolling behind the bears in the corners. You are right, those teeny tiny pebbles do make the feathers “pop” even more. Kudos!
Beautiful as always, Angela. You are so creative and your attitude about perfection is, well, perfect!
I so enjoy seeing your work and watching your videos. Thank you for sharing.
Great FMQ choices ~ I love how the bears’ faces even change after the wavy lines because is the different fabric designs. It all works nicely! It looks like at least one bear didn’t have a complete arrow or chevron above its nose. Was that by design, it gives the bear character! The feathers and pebbles with swirls reminded me of bears in a river with the rocks and rushing, swirling water around them – this quilting is one of my favorites. Thanks for putting it out there ❣️
I adore your quilting on this gorgeous quilt, Angela. Thank you so much for sharing it and the process… it’s a very inspiring read and I know I’ll be using your ideas in the future 🙂
Just lovely. Love the nose ? And of course, your feathers rock! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Love the bears and the BEES! Great job!
Your quilting is magical ( it doesn’t get any better in my book). I live on the far south side of Johnson County…I need to get up to your shop and would love to see you there on your longarm. Happy quilting!
You are so awesome and sweet! Angela, I can’t even draw a straight line let alone sew one free motion! But you give me courage ‼️ Bless you ?
Gorgeous!
That is an absolutely beautiful quilt!!!! I love how you did the nose and the feathers and those little bees are perfect! Always an inspiration!!!!
I’m still new to quilting so I’m still learning. I have had areas in a quilt that I’m happy with but I haven’t had a whole quilt that I can say WOW it can out just like I wanted! But I have a large one I’m quilting now and with every quilt there is improvement!!!
Absolutely lovely and whimsical! I have a question tho: do you mark even the spine of your feathers that weave in and out and around the bear blocks, or do it all free hand? What is your favorite chalk or pen for such? Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful work! Truly, it shows as a labor of love!
Love the fabric and I love the quilting! Did you change thread color when you quilted on the bear faces? I just used a Tula Pink layer cake for a super simple quilt. I really love her colors when offset with white. I thought it turned out great but I used a super light lavender thread which worked on most of the fabrics but really showed up on the darker ones making them more noticeable.
The quilting is beautiful! How fun. I have quilted a dragonfly on all my quilts up until the last one but I love little flying critters on quilts. I do like how my last quilt turned out. Kind of surprised my self but when I gave it away the recipient of it barely looked at it and then folded it up and put it back in the bag it was delivered in. However I will occasionally look at the pictures I took prior to giving it away and I always think, dang, I did okay on that one.
I have learned that not every family member needs to be given a quilt. If you have judged them correctly they won’t even miss it.
If I feel I must give someone a quilt who doesn’t appreciate the time, talent and effort I put forth then I recognise that I gave that quilt to them to make ME feel good.
Lori,
It’s always disappointing when a recipient doesn’t appreciate the work that goes into a quilt we give. I know that feeling as, I’m sure, many others quilters do. One thing I’ve promised myself is that I don’t give quilts or any labor intensive gifts to people who won’t appreciate them. Some people just can’t understand hand made requires so much more effort and often cost than purchased, made in ????.
I like the idea of your putting a dragonfly on each quilt, like a signature. Linda V Taylor does something similar and if she can do it so can we!
I LOVE that quilt and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the quilting you did. You are my quilting hero 🙂
This is fabulous, Angela!! Did you hide any secrets in the quilting?? I think videos on how you feather, and also the wavy face lines are in order (pretty please 🙂
I have actually just finished a quilt that turned out better than I expected – I will be gifting it to my sister and sharing about it next week, but I posted a sneak peek on IG a few days ago. She’s not really a ‘quilty person’ (i know!) so I made a quilt with minimal piecing (paper piecing at that – of which I am not a fan because it makes my brain hurt) and TONS of negative space. I had a vision in my head, but wasn’t sure I had the skill to pull it off, but I think it turned out really well and I can’t wait to surprise her with it!!
The quilting is amazing…I love the feathers going behind, the bees, flowers and leaves. The noses are perfect…great choice to quilt them that way. I was trying to think how they could be quilted any other way and didn’t come up with a better way…great job. I love the wavy/furry quilting. The bears with the darker strip across the eyes makes me think of Ninja Bears! Tula did a great job piecing and fabric placement.
Beautiful! I love the bees near the border too!
I’d be SO tempted to kidnap that adorable quilt, after doing all that amazing quilting! ? I’m a newbie, and have only quilted 2 quilts, but they both turned out WAY better than I expected. I binge watched your MQS and free motion videos each time before starting them, though, which was like a shot of quilting mojo for me. Almost finished with my 3rd quilt top, and got Roku on my ?, so soon I’ll be free-motion prepping with you on a big screen! Yay!
I am in awe at how you quilt Angela Walters! When I watch your video you make it look so simple and I’m having trouble figuring out what you’re doing. LOL I cannot wait to see your work in person on the Quilting cruise in February. Thanks For showing how you do things. Absolutely a fantastic quilt both in design and Quilting.
SOooooo cute! As always, Angela and her quilting gift from God, shines through! We are blessed to have Angela and see her gifts. I just love it! Thank you Angela for sharing! Leigh Ann in Tampa
It makes me smile to see the faces. They are just right! As someone pretty new to machine quilting, I must admit that your classes helped and my confidence is growing. I did one quilt that was a special gift with lots of negative space. That turned out better than I expected because I just stopped fussing about it!
I LOVE this quilt, Angela! Your creativity and choice of design is awesome! Tula Pink is an inspiration as well!
Yes, I have had a quilt turn out much better than I anticipated! After having my longarm a year, I still consider myself only a slightly advanced beginner! LOL I had taken some of my embroidery test blocks and put them together in a small quilt for my granddaughter. I had been doing mostly free motion but had taken a ruler class, and watched TONS of videos, so got my rulers out and practiced on that quilt. I was very pleased with the results and even won an “honorable mention” for it at our guild’s Quilt Fest this past summer!
Thanks for all the great ideas you inspire! Now I have to make a panda quilt for one of my twin grandsons, but the other one likes bears and I think this is the perfect pattern for them!
Amazing!
Love it! After you showed teaser pictures I was eager to see the finished quilt. Love the Bjorn Bear, love Tula’s bright and busy fabrics and love, love, love your quilting. I like the wavy stitching on faces best and 2nd best the feathers. Clever!
It is a gorgeous quilt. And yes, I have had a quilt that turned out much better than I thought. I had some old appliqued blocks. I was a novice when I did them. And I was a novice long arm quilter but I put them together, added borders from my stash and quilted around the appliques and put pebbles everywhere in the blocks with fronds in the borders. Quite boring on the pebbles but the quilt is something I will treasure. Never give up until it is absolutely necessary.
Very imaginative quilting! I would never have thought to combine feathers and bears. It really works. I love quilting feathers, too. Hmmmm, maybe I can incorporate them into the quilt I’m doing for my husband. He wanted minimum quilting, so it wouldn’t be too heavy. Ha!
This quilt is so sweet! Again, your quilting is amazing!
Love what you did and feathers work well even though this is a modern quilt. Did you mark the feathers or part of them like the spine, if so what marker do you use? Markers give me the hebbygebby’s!
Every part of this quilt is absolutely stunning. x
Love, love, love this quilt and the quilting.