The second Dahlia panel is finished, and the colors on this one are so vibrant! The colorway is called Sunset. I didn’t have any threads to match the intense colors on this panel, so I went to Beginnings and purchased four Floriani embroidery threads in precisely matched colors.
It was easy to find a good match with the display of over 300 shades and gradations to choose from. These threads are strong enough for high speed embroidery machines, so I thought they would be fine for the longarm, and they were. The threads stitched beautifully without breaking.
I reviewed my plan, and found that the outer petals on this colorway are a bit more defined, so there are a few more that can be highlighted. I made some adjustments to the plan, and dove in.
The outermost color is blue, so that was threaded on the machine first. I stitched the edges down, then began working the free motion designs in the petals. This wavy-S shape is easy.
Then feathers for the next long and slender one.
Working left to right, I went around the corner. For this quilt, I made the background rays farther apart than I did on the pastel one for better definition of the petal designs.
Working down as far as I could go with the blue, a couple of petals were halfway done, then I changed thread color to the green.
Finishing the petal in green, the colors follow the printed design.
Curved cross hatching was completed with a curved ruler. The little hills were free motion.
Working around in the green as far as I could go, one petal on this side was left half finished for now.
Next thread color change to yellow was made, and I quilted designs in the yellow sections.
The center is also yellow, so I worked my way into the middle. This time I didn’t try to make it so fussy. I just outlined the shapes there, and put a few rays in the yellow part coming out from the center.
The next petal was a combination of orange and yellow, so I marked it first for curved cross hatching.
I quilted the yellow lines, then changed color to orange to finish that petal.
Returning to the center, I quilted more rays in the middle, and feathers in one petal going as far as the orange color went.
Returning to the center, I finished the bottom side of the orange color areas, and partial petals.
Having the plan kept it straight as to which quilting motif went where. I chose ones that would integrate two colors well.
All the orange complete, time to change back to yellow.
I finished all the petals to be quilted in yellow.
Change thread color back to green and complete all the green areas on the bottom half of the quilt.
Going back to the sides, I partially quilted the petals that graded from green to blue.
Change back to blue thread to finish the remaining petals and background rays.
Bottom left done, I just need to remove some chalk lines.
Move to the bottom right. All that is left are a few rays and one last petal.
All done, and faster than the first one as I had a good plan.
The thread tension was perfect! The bobbin held only Bottom Line in light yellow throughout, and there are no pokies!
I bound it in bright yellow, the same as the backing. See closeup views of all the quadrants on the Sunset Dahlia Quilt page I set up for the raffle.
It is now hanging at Beginnings Quilt Shop for viewing until September 1. Todd and Kathy have ordered some panels for local residents. Beginnings also has a huge display of all 300+ colors of Floriani threads if you’d like to try them. No affiliation here, just a satisfied customer of a truly wonderful shop with great people. You can also get these threads with the online portal at Floriani, by clicking on Create With Floriani and using the guest password ‘beginnings’. You can shop for thread and stabilizers, and sign up to get emails when they do their live video events. Just choose Beginnings as your dealer. The last live video event was 2 hours of tips and tricks on embroidery and more, and they gave away some neat packages of products to a few pre-registered participants.
Raffle tickets are $10, online only on the Bullington Gardens website. If you are out of the area, Bullington will ship the quilt to the winner for free. Support a wonderful local garden with your raffle ticket purchases, and you might win this Sunset Dahlia quilt.
What do you think of my Sunset Dahlia?
Get Hoffman Dream Big panels in lots of colorways at Fat Quarter Shop. See what is on today’s Flash Sale! Fat Quarter Shop has a special 20% Off Gold Glitter Fat Quarter Bundles, and Essex Linen yardage, August’s Basic of the Month. Get 30% Off Cake Mix pads and more in the Notion of the Month, and check out the precut of the week, Bonnie and Camille Jelly roll!
From My Carolina Home 
Just stunning. You are so talented.
Agree! And kind and generous! Well done!
Wow, Wow, Wow – I can’t even begin to understand the process you described; however I loved seeing the quilting come alive. What a treat for the eyes. You are extremely talented. It was well worth the posting. Thank you.
Carolyn K
Carole, your sunset dahlia quilting is simply outstanding! I absolutely LOVE the colors! Carole, the raffle doesn’t state when it closes or when the winner will be selected. Do you have more info on that? Your dedication of the proceeds for both the gardens and adults with special needs is commendable.
See the raffle page Dahlia Quilt For Bullington Gardens at the top of the blog. The ticket sales run through September with the drawing October 2.
It is beautiful. You had a great idea there to print out a copy to practice with on both of your quilts. You did a good job with the threads too. Congratulations. Glad you didn’t have any setbacks this time!
Beautiful! Your attention to detail makes for a fabulous piece.
it looks great! good luck on the raffle
Just an FYI. I tried to buy a ticket and could not enter my state in the order page. The choices were limited to about 5 states. I would really love to be able to enter this raffle.
Bullington has been notified, thank you for bringing this to our attention!
That looks amazing! I will definitely buy a raffle ticket, and I am a huge fam of Beginnings. Bought my first embroidery machine there and their thread collection is right on perfect. Thanks for doing this project and sharing it.
The sunset dahlia is gorgeous. What a wonderful quilting job you did!
Absolutely outstanding! The person that wins this will be thrilled. So beautiful, just like you!
Beautiful. And what a lot of work to do all those thread color changes, but it really enhances the design.
Very beautiful! It’s like a stitching catalogue of a variety of quilting designs all on one quilt!
So pretty and it looks like it was a joy to quilt!
Excellent job of quilting.
Absolutely stunning! I love the backing choice and the bright yellow binding is perfect. This is sure to raise a lot of moo for the raffle.
It’s stunning, Carole! I’m so glad that your machine is up and running well now, and clearly having the first panel for practice more than paid off in how quickly this one came together.
Lovely design and quilting on your panel! This will draw in lots of attention inspiring many!
Carole, I really think you have reached the top of the mountain with this! I cannot wait to go to the shop and see it in person. This should be a very successful fund raiser for Bullington Gardens….and what a worthy cause! I loved your first one, but this one just blows me away.
Gorgeous work Carole
So beautiful!
This panel is gorgeous and your quilting really accentuates it’s beauty!! I love the sheen on those Floriani threads. I use them a good bit for embroidery but haven’t tried them on my longarm. I have tried other 40 weight thread though. I’ll be giving these a try too! Thanks for sharing. I tried to go to the Floriani link and it took me to a login page. I’ll do a search for Create with Floriani and see what comes up. Thanks for sharing your talent, Carole!
Yes, the Floriani link takes you to a GUEST login, use the password ‘beginnings’ to see the site and the videos.
Stunning, Carole. Fascinating to observe your quilting technique and designs. Good luck with the fundraiser, and thanks for sharing.
Hello Carole, This is such an amazing quilt that you have done! I enjoyed each one of the photo’s that you shared and all of the information that you shared. Whoever does end up winning this will be receiving a spectacular treasure! Once again, I give you a standing ovation for the charity work that you do! You are a special individual, Carole, with a heart of gold that grows stronger each and every year that I know you! Have a spectacular day!
Carole, Thank you for sharing your work on this panel. It came out great! Helping Bullington Gardens, by raffling it off, is perfect.
-Jean ❤️
So beautiful, you have done an amazing g job. Imagine the delight of the raffle winner when they get to keep this beautiful piece of art!
This is gorgeous, Carole.
Your plan worked to perfection, Carole! Your FMQ looks superb, this really shows off your design talents, as well as your free motion skills. 😍 Is there a special custom quilt in your future?
One word – WOW!
I love how each section has a different design! That is a really neat idea, not a traditional quilt, but super cool!
A lovely finish. The colours in this one are lovely. Hope it raises a lot of money!
It looks amazing. You do spectacular work Carole.