More Quilting on the Elk Panel Quilt

Teensy found some batting on the cutting table, and snuggled right in.

Black fleece backing

Half Done Quilting the Elk Panel Quilt

I'm almost to the halfway point in the quilting of the elk panel quilt.

Quilting Elk Panel Quilt

Today I loaded the Elk panel quilt on the frame and got the top two borders quilted.  The backing is thick fleece, so I thought I'd skip the batting; but because the panel is printed wonky and curves outwards on one side, I've put in a layer of high-loft batting to help take up the excess fabric.

So far, so good:

Elk Panel Quilt Top

The borders are all on the elk panel quilt, and it's ready to load on the quilt frame.  The panel itself is printed with a curve on the left!  Let's see if I can correct it with the quilting.

P.S.:  As for the panel being wonky... I'll take some of the border seams a smidgen deeper on that side; that'll help.  Also, the picture looks worse than it really is, as I was standing on the right, and couldn't hold my camera far enough toward the middle.  I'm going to add batting to this quilt, though I hadn't intended to initially.  That'll take up some of the excess, and if I roll it onto my frame straight, I shouldn't have a problem.  I once quilted a customer's French Braid quilt that had a braid that was **six inches!!** wider on one side than on the other, and all the other braids were misshapen, too -- and it turned out a whole lot better than I could've imagined.  This should be a piece of cake, in comparison to *that* one!  🤪

Americana Eagle Quilt Top Done

The Americana Eagle quilt top is finished, and ready to be quilted.  It measures 65" x 75".

But first, I'm going to add borders to this elk panel and quilt it with a soft, thick, black fleece backing for son-in-law Jeremy, whose birthday is next month.  One narrow border is on it so far.

Border #5, Americana Eagle Quilt

Border #5 of the Americana Eagle quilt -- Prairie Points:

Americana Eagle Quilt, Four Borders On

Deciding I was satisfied with the center section, I started on the borders.  Four are done; five more to go.

Americana Eagle, Maybe Done Now?

I wasn't satisfied with the background for the Americana Eagle, so have done more painting with the Inktense pencils.  I think maybe now I'm done, and ready to start attaching the borders.

Americana Eagle, Colored with Inktense Pencils

This afternoon, I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a box of Inktense pencils, using a gift certificate my mother-in-law Norma gave me.  After a bit of experimentation with scraps of fabric, I launched into coloring the background of the eagle.  A bit more appliqué stitching... some shading and adding feathers to the eagle... and now perhaps I am satisfied with it.

I laid some of the borders beside the eagle to get an idea of what it's going to look like.

Americana Eagle, Embroidered

All of the appliquéing and most of the embroidery are done on the Americana eagle.  This section measures 30" x 40".  There are 171 pieces in the eagle alone.

Next, a whole lot of coloring and shading of the lower background areas, where head and tail blend into it too much.  Head and legs need a bit of shading definition, too.  But here it is so far: