A Gorgeous City Sampler - Tula Meets Kaffe!

One of my long-time customers, Kathy, recently asked me to quilt this top for her. Liz, one of my longarm rental supervisors, squealed "ooh, a City Sampler!" when she saw it. (Liz's is still in her to-be-quilted pile.) This quilt was designed a few years ago by Tula Pink and is the focus of the challenge on Instagram under the hashtag #100blocks100days2017. All 100 of the blocks are unique with a tendency towards modern design. Part of the point of this design is fussy cutting and fabric placement. Kathy has a collection of Kaffe Fassett fabrics and dove into her stash for her City Sampler. Because of this, she wanted a quilting design that would line up with the blocks if at all possible and wouldn't overpower them. She and I spent a while looking at my design library and finally decided upon Abacus, which didn't line up but kept a low enough profile visually that it didn't distract the eye. Abacus also suited the modern design of the blocks well. I also chose a thin thread in a light neutral color; it disappeared against light fabrics and didn't overpower dark fabrics. Congratulations, Kathy, on finishing your masterpiece!