The Army Color Quilt

I am thrilled to take a short break after finishing my plethora of client quilts.  That being said, come next week I have three to contact on a waiting list.   Yesterday my friend picked up what I call The Army Color Quilt.  This is a surprise queen size bedspread quilt for her teen aged son.  He has no idea!  Yes, it is pictured on my king size bed so it is big.  Again, swirls were the popular design this summer but I thought I would still show it to compare how it looks on different quilts.

So this is The Army Color Quilt, completed completely with swirls:

The Army Color Quilt was pieced primary with a Moda Marble green and some batiks.  I forgot to take pictures of the back but it was pieced with 10" squares and turned out lovely.  The quilting was done with Fil-Tec Glide in an army type green (#65615); a 40 weight trilobal polyester.  This has often been a go to green.  The glide thread seems to sink into the fabric a bit more.  It is great because there is almost no lint build up in my sit down hook system.

Just for a comparison, here is a glimpse of other quilts I have done recently with the same pattern but different threads.  

Most recently was sunshine.  Sunshine was quilted with 50 weight Aurifil cotton thread in a light yellow on the main body and a dark chocolate on the feathers.  The yellow on the busy block designs actually showed up more like a white.

Lavender is again swirls but she was quilted with Superior So Fine 40 weight polyester thread in a lovely light lavender color (#442) throughout the quilt.

Christmas in July was quilted with 50 weight Prescencia cotton thread in white for the swirls.  The white was visible but did not compete with the Cardinals.  The back was done with a plaid flannel and the thread sunk right in to it.

Finally, there was Top Hat.  Top hat was also quilted with a 50 weight Aurifil cotton thread but using a light gray.  Aurifil does not seem to sink in as much but it blends nicely with the fabric and does not stand out quite so much as a 40 weight thread.

So in general,  the type and color of thread used on a quilt really depends on the style and design of the quilt.  I tend to use trilobal threads on batiks and children quilts; anything that needs or would work with a sheen on the thread.  Cotton or polyester (So Fine) are my choices for more classic quilts.  If the thread needs to stand out, I may go with a 40 weight like So Fine or Signature (cotton). Both of these do tend to leave a lot more lint in the hook system so I need to clean it diligently every bobbin change.  If the quilting needs to be more quiet or I plan a lot of overstitching, the lighter 50 weight thread may be my choice so the appearance does not become too heavy.

I would love to hear your comments about quilting and threads!

Join me again this week as I check up today at http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com, tomorrow at http://myquiltinfatuation.blogspot.com and Friday with http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com and http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com.  Have an awesome week!