I had so much fun creating “Deb’s Building” for the last prompt (building), I decided to create another version for the prompt “light.”

Here are the two quilts side by side.

And yes, the color of The Center changes in real life, too. I think the green version shows the typical hazy Hong Kong light, and the pink version is on a clear night. You can read about my favorite building here and here. And you can also check out my Instagram feed for more details: https://www.instagram.com/debcashatt/

Because the building is lit at night, and I love sparkle, I quilted it using Superior Glitter thread. I know many people have trouble stitching with metallic thread, so I’ll share a secret with you. Superior says to use a #90 topstitch needle with the machine tension set to 1. I have been more successful using a #80 topstitch needle (most of my fabric was very densely woven) and my tension set at 0. You just have to play around with the tension and see what works for you. If the thread breaks often, change your needle. There’s probably a burr on it that’s ripping/tearing the thread. I will also tell you that I had stitched about 20 percent of the background with another brand of metallic thread, but it wasn’t as shiny as Glitter and didn’t stitch up as nicely. So I ripped it all out. That was tedious. Another advantage to using Glitter is if you have to rip some of the stitching out, just grab the bobbin thread (I use a cheap polyester) and pull away from the quilt. The Glitter thread just tears away. And, yes, I know this from personal experience.

Here’s a detail of The Center #2. No, the white specks are not bobbin thread showing on the top, it’s light reflecting on the metallic thread. I wish I still had a camera with a star filter–that might have been an interesting effect. Hmm. Should I make another version? Or I could add beads. Or sequins….

The Center #2
Deb Cashatt
Dimensions: 40″ h x 35″ w
Material: Commercial cotton, cotton batting
Technique: Machine pieced, machine quilted