Quilting Plans for Lanterns of Hope
I know I shouldn’t play favorites, but Lanterns of Hope is, hands down, my favorite pattern I’ve written. It’s also proven to be one of my favorites to quilt as its quick piecing yet striking appearance makes it perfect for both practicing FMQ and experimenting with complex custom quilting. Plus, it has now been printed as a panel, too, so you can skip straight to the quilting! Let’s take a look!
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When I stop and think about it, I think just about every quilt can “work” with different quilting plans, but it has been my observation that once we see a quilt pattern quilted a certain way, it can be hard to imagine an alternative. One of the gifts I’ve observed with Lanterns of Hope, though, is that changing the color palette dramatically changes the appearance of the quilt, making it easier to see new quilting possibilities.
(Oh, and if you’re not sure what a quilting plan is an why they matter, check out this post!)
All Over Quilting
Admittedly, I don’t talk about all over quilting a whole lot.I tend to be “more is more” when it comes to the quilting step, but all over quilting is efficient, and it can be a great way to keep the focus on the piecing of a particularly striking quilt or particularly lovely fabric choices. For Lanterns of Hope, an all over quilting design allows the color progression to shine!
The first all-over design was a computerized pantograph. On this recent version of Lanterns of Hope (made with Ruby Star Society Water fabric), I used one of the prints for inspiration. In the lightest fabric of the quilt is a delightful free-form wave design. For my quilting, I “biggie sized” that design and free motion quilted it onto the quilt, making it up as I went along. I love how it turned out!
Custom Quilting, Option 1
I was tempted to refer to this quilting pattern as semi-custom quilting, but, as I used quite a few motifs, that feels like a stretch. What I did do here, though, is respect the seams. In other words, I used the seams to “contain” my quilting. Each color of this quilt contains a different motif, so both the colors and motifs progress across the quilt. This method makes LOH ideal for practicing new motifs, and if you use big prints like I did, irregularities and imperfections are quickly hidden by all the other things going on on the quilt. In other words, prints can help you show yourself grace as you practice your quilting. On the other hand, if you did a quilting plan like this with solid fabrics, the textures would be absolutely stunning, and a perfect way to show off a sampler of quilting motifs.
Custom Quilting, Option 2
This quilting plan shows no regard for the seams whatsoever. Instead, the striking colors of Lanterns of Hope are more like a bright canvas for the line drawing of the quilting. This kind of quilting plan is truly an opportunity to both play and to show off a bit, experimenting with the effects possible with the quilting itself, separate from the quilt top. You can learn more about this kind of custom quilting here.
Lanterns of Hope: The Panel
When I started planning the Quilting Rockstar Panel Collection with Paintbrush Studio Fabrics, it didn’t take long before one of of us asked, “What if Lanterns of Hope was a panel??” This is a fun and relatively quick quilt to piece, but to be able to skip straight to the quilting AND to offer it in two color ways— *chef’s kiss* I also wanted to create a quilting plan that uses only the motifs from Intro to Free Motion Quilting so my new Rockstars can practice semi- custom quilting without having to know allthemotifs yet.
We worked on this quilt together on the domestic during this YouTube Video (the sound isn’t great as this is shortly after we moved into the new studio— more videos soon!). Let’s take a look at how to quilt this same quilting plan on the Moxie Longarm:
Closing Thoughts
These three, of course, are just a taste of the possibilities for Lanterns of Hope. You could also riff quilt the entire thing, use straight lines, or do something different in each block rather than in each color. The options are endless, so it is enjoyable and useful to take a moment to consider the versatility of a single pattern and remember how fabric and quilting choices can add a whole new feel to just one pattern, and provide new opportunities to experiment color and free motion quilting.
