Six years of marinating

This quilt has been marinating in my closet for six years almost exactly! It's been pieced that long and patiently(or impatiently) waiting for me to make up my mind how I wanted to quilt it.  Last week it came out to whisper to me "please quilt me, pretty please", so guess what, I listened!!!  

I had remembered seeing this quilt all quilted prettily by a fellow longarmer. I was sure I had saved her photo on my computer for inspiration, I did, but it took me a couple of days to find it. And I didn't want to copy hers exactly, but to use it for a guideline, which I did.

The pattern is Four Square by Cozy Quilt Design. The fabric was a Kansas Trouble Jelly roll called Autumn Journey.  At 81"x81" it took me a couple days to custom quilt it, but I love how it came out. Here is how I chose to quilt it.

I used an arc ruler to make the spine for the freehand lettuce leaf feather. No backtracking on these feathers which is the way I like it!  I used a tan Mother Goose Signature thread.

Quilters Rule nested circles came in handy for making all the rings in the center design, you follow along the outside edge of the circle with your hopping foot.  The pebble circles  between the rings are freehanded.

The inspiration for the big green border came from fellow blog buddy Beth at Cooking Up Quilts.  As I told Beth I had seen this type of border before but have never tried it, and when she showed hers recently it just grabbed me and said put me on a quilt!  Thanks for the inspiration Beth!   I used a big green template for the spine of the lettuce leaf feather. I used school chalk in a holder to draw on the quilt gently to determine if the scallop repeat would fit nicely on the border and it did, no fudging! School chalk will just wipe off the fabric when you need it to. I stitched the spine corner to corner on one border from left to right and stitched the U turns going back to the left. Then I broke the thread and stitched the second spine from right to left and started the lettuce leaf feathers stitching back to the right. Each green border was stitched in this order on my trusty Nolting Funquilter 17" using stitch regulator when using the templates, but the feathers and U turns are all freehand.

The circles in the red border are made using another Quilters Rule inside nested circles. These you put your hopping foot in the center and go around the circle.

 Thread used-Mother Goose Signature, red Glide, green Molly Polly.  Templates used- Quilters Rule Nested inside circles, Nested Circles, Renae's Amazing Arc, Deloa Jones castle(for SID). And the school chalk in it's yellow holder.   I am not advertising for any one, just sharing what worked for me on this quilt.

Rob's Ruler for making the spine for the feather/U turns.  I have had this ruler a long time and it is my understanding this company is not in business any more.

Linking up with other bloggers for inspiration at some of the linky parties on the left side bar.