Wholecloth quilt

Recently, I wanted to make a wholecloth quilt to enter into our local guild quilt show. I didn’t have time (read: I didn’t plan far enough in advance) to make a wholecloth with trapunto, crosshatching, and all those bells and whistles that my friend Michele adds. But I did find some fun doodles in my sketchbook, and with those in hand, I created a whimsical wholecloth that was quite fun to quilt!

*Note for all non-quilter readers: a wholecloth quilt is one that is created out of one whole piece of fabric, usually with very fancy quilting. My version is more whimsical, because that fits my style of work best!

Here is the full view (I always want to type “the full Monty”!):

I seem to have managed to chop off the top and bottom of the quilt in my photo, so please feel free to imagine the swirls and leaves….

Here are some close up photos of the background quilting:

I marked the fabric very minimally using white school chalk. I used Superior Poly Quilter variegated thread for the heart, quilting over the lines several times to make that baby pop! I didn’t want straight, perfect lines, so I didn’t use a ruler as a guide. Instead, I was going for whimsy and energy! I made a few chalk lines to suggest the change of direction for the background fill inside the heart, and I didn’t mark the outer fill at all. I used a charcoal colored ARC thread from Melco for all the fill. Also, the fabric is actual black, not the charcoal it seems like in the photos.

I don’t submit my guild quilts for judging, so there’s no ribbon attached. In any event, it’s not a prize winner, just a fun and happy quilt!