Solars: Re-visited

cynthiadpconcha
Sep 2
3 min read

In 2023. I made videos for Northcott’s block of the month, Solare. After sitting in pile of other quilt tops, waiting for its turn on the long arm, I have rediscovered it and loaded it onto the frame. Not gonna lie… this fella is a beast! And it sat on the frame for over a week before I even added one quilt stitch.

It’s now September, and while I’ve spent several hours quilting, it is far from done. But I thought I’d share a few pictures of the quilt in process.

Let's back up a bit first... I bought a second hand HandiQuilter Forte last November, and haven’t yet saved enough to purchase the computerized addition to the longarm frame. That’s okay though. Is good to challenge myself and learn rulers a bit more. I've already quilted the Northcott 2024 BOM. Once I have the binding on I'll take some nice pictures and show it off here.

But for now... here's my toy...

I have the previous quilt backing in the picture. It's a 12 foot frame. ...I'm very proud of her...

I also inherited a bunch of rulers from my mom who decided ruler work wasn't her thing. But it's been a huge and blessing for me, not to mention a big learning curve.

I've learned that nothing replaces experience using rulers. You just gotta get your hands on them and try it. Let me know in the comments if you want to hear more about my journey with them.

How I design or plan what to quilt:

I’m using an app called Procreate on my iPad to help plan the quilting. It’s really helping me out since I’m limited to doing ruler work and free motion on my long arm. Procreate is iPad only. I'm not a huge iPad/apple fan, but I got an iPad for a class last year that introduced this program to me, and it's really been invaluable. Basically, you upload a picture of your quilt and then can "draw" patterns on it to test out what you want to quilt.

Here's a screen shot of Solare in Procreate:

Each pen color is drawn on a different layer. It lets me test out ideas and motifs before heading to the quilt. The colors I use in the program are NOT the thread colors I choose for the quilting. This is strictly brainstorming quilt patterns.

At the moment, I have planned to use five different thread colors. I know, I know... I'm a little crazy. At first I kept changing thread colors for the area I was quilting in. But I had to adjust tension between thread colors because I'm using different weights, and fiber type. So the top of the quilt is virtually done except the final color of thread which will be a golden color. Now I'm working thru the quilt one color at time. I've finished the navy thread, and currently working back up the quilt with a teal color thread. I'll show more completed photos at the end, but here's some in-process pics.