Playing Favorites Aurifil 40/3

When I first started quilting, my attitude towards the actual quilting step was to just make the layers stick together and to hide the thread by what I lovingly referred to as "stitch in the general vicinity of the ditch".   Times have changed, thanks in large part to Aurifil, now I want to show off the thread. 

This month, the Aurifil Artisan challenge was to choose our favorite thread weight and 40/3 stood out.  I was first introduced to it last year and immediately gave it a try on the long arm.  Sometimes I'll still quilt with 40wt or 50 wt but I've become comfortable with the 40/3 option.  

Granted, I probably use 50wt more frequently because that's my go to for piecing and trust me there are a lot of pieces in my quilts, especially this one.  40/3 gets the favorite ranking because I love the way the stitches enhances the quilt and can be seen.   

This is my third time sewing an Organized Choas pattern by Sujata Shah and probably won't be my last.  With a cool, calm beachy palette, inspired by the colors of sky, ocean, sand, driftwood etc.. the results are quite different than the two that came before.  

The recent storm damage in Capitola made national news and I watched footage of the tsunami-like weather sweep through from the comfort of our home, fortunate to be located on higher ground.  Recovery is bound to take awhile, but I thought I'd snap a picture this morning of the wharf with the visible gap and missing portion to document the event, part of why I started blogging. 

I continue to push outside my comfort zone - like trying new thread weight - and for this quilt I used a double batt for the first time.  There is a layer of 100 percent cotton with a layer of 100 percent wool and it wasn't any more difficult to stitch through the extra layer.  The 40/3 wt thread didn't seem to mind at all. With dark and light fabrics, I used 2610 Light Blue Grey, the perfect compromise. 

There is something kind of amusing to me when I think about how much focus and energy was spent to make the flimsy flat only to distort it with lumps and bumps created from the high loft of the batting. 

 My new Oliso iron has major steam action and was great for pressing those seams flat. 

Here are a couple other recent quilts showing off the beautiful cones of 40/3, my favorite weight.

It would be a little rude to mention the two previous Organized Chaos quilts and not show them so here you go - and wasn't I right in saying just how different they are?!