Rocky Mountain Elk!

I don't know if this panel was really taken from the Rocky Mountains but it just feels like it!!  Regardless, this is a gorgeous customer quilt that required a little more than the flowery beauty I love.  The photo was taken in our wonderful Wyoming wind so the borders look a little wonky but we had a hard time keeping the quilt flat.

The quilting started in the panel itself.  The goal was to create dimension and we did that on the double batting with Superior Threads 60 weight Bottom Line and as well as a little 100 weight Microquilter.  Not everything was quilted, just the elk, some trees, a little in the mountains, a few leaves, and the small spruce tree.  Just enough for dimension.

Then we moved to the three borders and stitched in the ditch of each one but using the finer weight Microquilter.  Next came the animal shots above and below the elk.  These were stitched in the ditch in the sashing area.  Rather than quilting on the blocks, the green sashing was quilted on a grid using an Aurifil 50 weight thread in hunter green. 

On to the outside border.  The quilting needed to be kept simple on the print but yet worth doing.  So we added a little more dimension and texture with a diamond effect using an Aurifil 50 weight thread in brown.  I really like how this turned out.

At this point the quilting appeared very sophisticated so we kept with that and just echo quilted twice inside the bear claw corner stone blocks.

I just love how refined this quilt turned out.  My husband and son REALLY want a quilt like this!

I hope you enjoyed Rocky Mountain Elk!  Enjoy your weekend!  Take a peek at some of the quilty sites on my sidebar and don't forget Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts here: http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com