Two-Thirds Done Quilting 'In Love With Africa' Quilt

I'm about two-thirds done quilting my customer Linda's 'In Love With Africa' quilt. The pantograph is called 'African Samba'. There's a light gray-blue thread, more gray than blue, in So Fine 50-wt. on top, and silver Bottom Line 60-wt. thread in the bobbin.  I'm using my glide foot, so as not to catch in the appliqués.  I've added a few 'before and after' shots to show how even a fairly serious too-much-fullness problem can be handled with starch, an iron, and can of soup rolling along behind the hopping foot.

A can of soup?!

Well, a can of peaches or green beans would do, too.  😄  Use two, if one isn't enough.  

You see, the heavy cans press down on the quilt where there's too much fullness, so that when the hopping foot is moving along, it doesn't push tucks and pleats into the fabric. I do this with my hand when I am custom quilting at the front of the frame; but when I'm using a pantograph and standing at the back, the cans serve this purpose.

Linda told me a little more about this quilt today:

The name of this pattern is called 'Village', by Kim McLean. I saw this quilt at our local quilt show last year. It had all these houses in the middle, but when I saw it those houses didn't look like they belonged. Not with these wild animals. I came home and started drawing animals that weren't in the pattern. 

I ordered the original and completely changed it.

They had to have a source of water, so that's where the river came in. Then I knew the river had to have crocodiles, frogs, and fish. 

I looked on the Internet to see what the fish look like in Africa, and then, as close as I could, drew some.

I looked for African huts, people doing different things, chickens running around, etc. It was so much fun to do. 

Like I said before, for the most part the fabric is from South Africa.

I was especially happy to have the piece of fabric with Nelson Mandela (on the back).