CraZy 9 Patch with Challenge

I took on this quilt from a new quilter only because I happened to be in the quilt shop when the piecer brought it in looking for a quilter. Normally I would steer clear of a quilt with ultrasuede borders and fleece backing. YIKES! The fleece is so stretchy and the ultrasuede, well, it's ultrasuede. But I got "TAGGED" so I took on the job.

The piecer made the quilt for her parents to use on the sofa of the family room. So she wanted it to be warm and snuggly. The fleece backing is a deep rich chocolate brown.

The quilt field is a Crazy 9 Patch, the shops signature quilt, and it was done in a class at the shop. She used several shades of browns. There were some wonderful circles in the fabric so we discussed using circles in the quilt. The ultrasuede was also brown.

I chose a Signature cotton thread Java to use on the top and bobbin. I figured out the the stretchy part was on the sides so I was careful to stabilize those so I don't pull them out of shape. I also used a Warm & White batting mostly to stabilize it and separate the layers.




I knew better than to try and mark the ultrasuede with anything such as chalk or Mark-B-Gone. So I just free-handed the feathers being sure to take the feather all the way to the pressed outside seam so I could stitch thru it. I will SID that on my Juki later. I did not want to try to hold the machine still enought to hit the ditch with the fleece on the bottom. I was pleased at how well the ultrasuede took the stitching and it did not budge or stretch. Before I started, I thought about echoing the feathers but then I thought that would be pushing my luck. If the ultrasuede started wiggling, I would certainly regret having to echo the feather just to get that seam allowance quilted down.


I used the Circle Lord Swirlz template in the field. It really looks good on those Crazy 9 Patch blocks. But the real star is the back with those swirls. I am very pleased. I guess you can't always tell the difficulty rate from looking in the bag at the quilt pieces.

I am still working on it but am about 2/3 done. I confess that I did keep my eye on the Quilter's Eye camera to make sure that I was not getting any puckers. It looked great on the screen so I kept going. I will finish this up tonight. The ultrasuede unravels so badly, I might offer to serge the edges of the quilt for her just so it stays together until she gets the binding on.