MW 7-25-07: Here are the first three blocks of my second project – the rainbow spirals. These again are 8″ x 8″ blocks so the triangles get quite teensy at the base. Hope you like these.
RM 7-28-07: And here are Micki’s last two. [Micki, apologies for losing your explanation — the page became corrupted and wouldn’t let me edit, so I deleted it and made this new one, but lost the text on the previous. Please add any comments below that you feel are relevant.]
MW 8-2-07: Hi, RaNae,
Here is my second project, the ‘Over the Rainbow’ table runner pieced and ready to go to my long-arm quilter. See the neat rainbow, spiral effect in the border?
The original border I planned had emphasized the triangular pieces and I wanted to downplay that in this one – unlike the wall hanging which emphasized the shards and triangular shapes – and showcase spirals. This has the blocks on point and they go from lightest shading to darkest across the runner. When Diane completes the quilting I’ll do a hand-turned white binding to complete the frame effect of the border. I hope you like it. Micki
RM: Micki, I do! The border fabric is perfect! 🙂
MW 9-6-07: Here are some photos of the quilting on my table runner that I thought you might enjoy seeing.
Spiromaniacs 
August 1, 2007 at 11:03 am
WoW! You are doing an amazing job . . . these are beautiful!
Jamie
August 2, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Micki, Micki, Micki….I’m speechless! Both projects are fantastic! Job well done.
Rhonda
August 2, 2007 at 12:57 pm
Hi Micki,
Every group has to have an over-achiever! Tag! You’re it!
Great job. linda
August 2, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Doctor, doctor, give me a cure…..!
I think Spiralitis is spreading. Love your spirals and the border is splendid, Micki.
Kathy E
August 2, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Thank you all for your wonderful comments. These were fledgling efforts for me being a relatively new quilter (2+ years) – first time EQing, first time designing something like this, first time foundation piecing anything of this size or complexity; so I really appreciate your encouragement and accolades about these projects. And the wonderful artist who is doing the long-arm quilting on them is a master of her craft, so I know they will be beyond my imagination when they are all finished.
This is such a wonderful experience for me and I can’t tell you how your ideas have inspired me, and how much sheer information and knowledge about design, color, and foundation piecing I have learned from being amongst this great group of Spiros!
Thank you all!!!
August 4, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Micki, am I reading this right . . . somewhere in this blog did you say that you have just learned EQ6 and are doing this!!! OMG! And you’re a fairly new quilter!! Yikes, look out Houston, here you come!!
Jamie
August 22, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Table Runner ~20″ x 70″ named “Over the Rainbow”
Pieced by: Micki Wiersma, Raleigh, NC
Quilted by: Diane Anderson of CabinQuilter Custom Quilting, Tomball, TX
The table runner was designed using EQ6 and includes five 8″ x 8″ blocks with octagonal baravelle shapes, on point, completed in a rainbow of colors on a white background to showcase various spiral effects. The first block uses 24 different fabrics in three shades of each of 8 colors. Other blocks are comprised of as few as 8 fabrics of a single shade of each color and illustrate various degrees of color intensity. All fabrics are 100% cotton hand-dyes or batiks.
The blocks are surrounded by white half-triangles. The border is comprised of four corner blocks and four lengths, all of which were fussy-cut from a specific fabric chosen for its spiral designs in the rainbow colors showcased in the blocks. Half-inch white “window pane” sashing surrounds the border pieces and white binding will complete the “frame” for the table runner.
Diane is also machine-quilting this piece and I’ll add information on that shortly.
August 23, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Hmmmm…Grand Passion. Thanks Micki, I’ll roll it off the tongue for a bit. Also, I’ll be in touch to take you up on those tutorials when this next set of trips is finished. By the way, I must work for your second favorite carrier…Continental 🙂 Thanks for sharing the info from your quilter. I bet you can’t wait to embellish.
Rhonda
August 24, 2007 at 10:12 am
You are right, Rhonda, it is my other favorite carrier! I dropped Diane an email in case you decide to get in touch with her. I know she isn’t taking projects from new customers until November, so I paved the way to let her know you are a fellow Spiromaniac, but she knows you are looking at several options for quilting and that you might not be in contact.
Stay safe and have some great trips and a lot of fun!
September 6, 2007 at 5:08 pm
Information on machine quilting for “Over the Rainbow” table runner. Diane has done a marvelous job of quilting this piece to showcase the spiral blocks as well as the spiral design in the border fabric. Once again, because of the colors and design she had to audition numerous colors for thread and settled on three different ones. Diane said the biggest problem was finding the “penultimate color of thread to use in the spirals.”
At first we were planning to use a poly (Superior’s MonoPoly) but it broke continually because of the thickness of the fabrics at the center of the spirals. Then she tried variegated, which she said looked great when it was between two lighter colors, but horrible when it was in the ditch between two darks. She tried, purple, cream, tan and light gray before settling on a medium/dark gray which she felt was a little dark between the lights, but “not bad” between the darks. It looks really terrific!
Diane used a variegated thread to stitch the white “frames,” white thread on the block backgrounds and triangles adjoining the blocks, and a medium gray on the spirals and the colorful border pieces.
She has used a swirly, spiral motif in the triangles, and small feather-shaped pantographs to fill in around the larger motifs in the white areas. She has used a more jagged, freehand design around the pinwheels in the border and outlined the petals of the pinwheels for a trapunto-like effect. She has also outlined the spirals in the center blocks to showcase the various effects.
Again the itsy-bitsy triangles were the biggest challenge for her. She said, “I literally had to take one stitch at a time in order to force the stitch to form. The thickness of the fabric, dissolvable paper, and piecing thread made it really hard for the machine not to skip the stitches.”
I think we’re both glad this is done from the perspective of piecing and quilting, but we’re also both very pleased with the result. I’m going to start the binding tonight and soon both “Journey” and “Rainbow” will be ready for their photo shoots.
It’s been an interesting and thoroughly enjoyable journey, for sure!
September 7, 2007 at 6:44 pm
I thought your quilt design was wonderful, now the quilting Diane did makes it more so. Great job! I love it.
Kathy E
September 9, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Micki, you are amazing. You must have some background in color – teacher, artist? The table runner is stunning and the quilting has made it a masterpiece. The border fabric was made just for you. I am in awe. Congratulations, Mary
September 10, 2007 at 11:59 am
Thanks so much for your nice comments and I’ll pass your comments on the quilting to Diane. I know she will be delighted.
Mary, you are so sweet! Sorry to say, I have no background in color. I’m not a teacher or artist by any stretch of the imagination. I have done a bit of reading on color theory and carry my trusty color wheel with me all the time.
It’s interesting that so many different things can inspire us. That border fabric was one of those moments of inspiration. I had planned a different border for the table runner and when looking through my stash – which could put a fabric store to shame! – I came upon that fabric and just knew! Diane’s quilting then just made the whole piece come together stunningly. Eventually the runner will go to my older daughter in California, who has a lovely long glass table that will be a perfect setting to showcase this piece.
September 10, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Lucky daughter!
September 28, 2007 at 7:30 am
RaNae, I second that. Wish I would be that daughter!fee