Chilly Fall Nights

The night-time temperatures are starting to drop here in northern Pennsylvania, so I thought I'd post a few photos of a fleece throw that I quilted on my HQ16 last spring. I had intentions of quilting it with a pantograph (the one that came with the machine) so that I could practice. You should be able to see one row of it on the dark side of the throw. After finishing one row of the pantograph, I decided that I really didn't like doing it (I didn't like the pattern, didn't like taking the time to figure out the spacing so it fit properly all the way down the quilt, didn't like the "planned" look, etc). So I decided to just free-motion the rest of it using a large stylized meander or whatever you want to call it. I just turned on the machine and off I went.
Getting away from concentrating on the laser light following the pantograph was very freeing. The rest of the quilting went very easily. I did want a somewhat controlled look, so I decided to end it with a row of the pantograph design at the bottom of the throw as well.
I used 2 yards of anti-pill fleece (bought at 50% off at Joann's) on each side, but I think I will use 2 1/2 yards next time to make it a bit longer. And it may be hard to believe, but I used a cream-colored thread on the top and in the bobbin, but it sank in so much into the fleece that you can't tell what the thread looks like on either side. All you see is the quilting pattern.

This was fun to do and makes for a very warm throw in a short amount of time. I think Joann's is having a fleece sale next week, so I'll probably go by some more. This is a great way to practice quilting on the HQ16.