How Accent, Mirage and Spagetti threads highlight appliqued words

I’ve come to the end of my week of stitching 3 inspirational wallhangings. At the beginning of the week I shared how I used WonderFil DecoBob 80wt polyester thread for perfect piecing.

I then shared how I used WonderFil InvisaFil 100wt polyester thread for quilting the blocks and adding texture to the quilt. I changed to thicker threads and quilted the borders with Accent, Fruitti and Tutti and Splendor and finished my wallhangings stitching with InvisaFil and Splendor again for the binding.

Today, I’m finishing the wallhangings with inspirational and encouraging words appliqued to the finished quilts.

I’m making these wallhangings for my two daughters and one for myself. I asked the girls earlier this fall for some words or phrases that would encourage or inspire them.

My older daughter’s word of choice was RELENTLESS. She is relentless in all areas of her life. She is persistent, constant, dogged and single-minded.

I used my computer to prepare my letters for applique.

The first step is to choose my applique letters and reverse them before printing.

Once printed, I traced each of the letters to the paper side of fusible web.

I fused the traced letters to the wrong side of my applique fabric.

I didn’t plan RELENTLESS well. I found that the letters were too big and too dark!

I went back to the computer and my fabric stash and am much happier with a different font, size of letters and fabric.

Once I had the correct size letters and fabric, I cut out each of the letters and fused them to the quilt top.

The nice thing about stitching the applique last is that I don’t have to worry about quilting afterwards and trying to quilt around each of the letters of my applique.

I had 3 possible choices for my applique threads. I found the Accent a bit too light and bright. The black Spagetti was too dark. The variegated Mirage was just right!

I stitched the edges of the applique with a narrow zigzag stitch using WonderFil Mirage thread. Mirage is a 30wt rayon thread and only comes in wonderful variegated colors!

When asked for a word, my younger daughter right away responded with BE CURIOUS. This short phrase perfectly reflects her! She loves to learn but she has always been able to draw others in because they want to learn more about her!

BE CURIOUS was appliqued with WonderFil Accent thread. Accent is a 12wt rayon thread in both solid and variegated colors. I enjoy working with Accent as it gives me clear strong stitching lines.

The thread color contrasts the applique, so a thicker thread highlights rather than blends.

The third wallhanging is for me. I chose PERSEVERE as my word for 2018. My word for 2017 was FINISH and I challenged myself to finish as many quilted projects as I could. I haven’t finished as many projects as I had hoped, but I have finished more than I though I could. My word for 2018 is to Persevere in my 2017 challenge and in my professional work.

I used a ruler to help me arrange the letters for this applique.

When I was looking for the perfect thread for this applique, the thread that was too bright for RELENTLESS, was perfect for PERSEVERE!

This has been a busy week working on 3 wallhangings at the same time. I’ve used a lot of WonderFil threads, InvisaFil (100wt), DecoBob (80wt), Tutti (50wt), Splendor (40wt), Mirage (30wt), and Fruitti and Accent (12wt) cottons and rayons.

I hope I’ve encouraged you to BE CURIOUS as you play with WonderFil wide variety of threads and that you’re willing to be RELENTLESS as you PERSEVERE with a variety of threads and different techniques!