Day 366 – Flaming Cocoons

Just so you know I’m not pulling your leg on the whole “the project will continue” thing, here’s yet another design to finish out 2011 in style:

This design was designed to finish out the chapter on Stacking Designs in From Feathers to Flames. I took a hard look at Fiery Comet and decided there must be possible variations of that design that stack together in a similar way.

One of the major things I want to focus on next year is the design families each design fits into. So far I’ve created 12 design families that are based on the way the designs are stitched. Some designs Interlock together, while others run from Edge to Edge or Edge to Center.

The point with all of this is simple – the way a design is stitched dictates where it will work best in your quilt.

It also has a secondary function – if you can stitch one design in a family, chances are you can stitch most of the designs in that family because they’re all stitched in roughly the same way.

So if you can stitch Fiery Comet, it’s highly likely that you can also stitch Flaming Cocoons.

Instructions for quilting Flaming Cocoons: First quilt a long oval shape on your quilt, then stitch inside this shape and fill the space with gently curving arches.

Return to the outside of the cocoon and stitch a long flame shape. Stitch inside this shape and fill it with internal echoes. Stack a new cocoon and flame shape nearby the first, filling in the space between with more echoes of the flame shapes.

Difficulty Level – Advanced. There’s an excessive amount of travel stitching and echoing with this design so it’s going to require some practice to master.

Design Family – Stacking. Each shape stacks together to fill the quilting space completely.

Directional Texture – All Directions.

Suggestions for Use – While Flaming Cocoons can certainly work on a small scale, personally I’d be interested to see what happens when it’s quilted on a much bigger scale over a simple, modern lap quilt.

Let’s go quilt!

Leah Day