Jumping in

This weekend I tackled the quilting on my Storm at Sea for the #alisonglassminiquiltswap. I knew it was gonna be a challenge because this mini really required veering from my usual very very straight, very patterned quilting. The waves called for more organic quilting, and I wanted to highlight the top circle with spiral quilting. I've done a spiral before, but certainly not more freeform quilting and it was quite intimidating for me. I can happily sew straight lines for hours, but my brain struggled to just go with the flow.

My first section was still pretty much straightlines, only they fanned out to fill one of the waves. Bolstered by positive comments and encouragement on Instagram, I pushed myself a bit more on the next section. And voila - waviness!

This is actually my favourite section. The other waves I tried didn't turn out so well, but I'm OK with it because the stitches aren't as noticeable on the dark blue. For a moment I was tempted to take it out, but I need to embrace trying new things even if they're not as "perfect" as I'd like. I really do need to shake my perfectionism a bit, so this was a good exercise.

Overall, the effect is exactly what I imagined and I think perfect for the movement in this mini.

The quilting is far more visible on the back, which is mostly a solid fabric. It's tough to see but I used five different threads - three blues, green and white - for the different sections.

My fears of messing up this mini I loved with my experimental quilting thankfully didn't come true. I am really happy with this one from the piecing and my interpretation of the traditional pattern right down to the wonky, aka organic, quilting.