How Margaret Solomon Gunn Quilted the Big Dream Wild Rose Panel

Professional Level - Winner - Margaret Solomon Gunn

I wanted to share with you a little about Margaret. Here are some questions I asked her to answer about her quilt and herself. I hope you enjoy her quilting as much as I do. I love all the different fill designs.

Tell me a little about yourself

I am a professional longarm quilter and have been for almost nine years. I quilt for both clients as well as for myself. Each year I create a couple of competition quilts that can be seen in many national-level quilt shows around the country. I have authored one book with AQS, and have 4 of my own self-published books all on various subjects of quilting design. I also share my favorite skills with others by teaching at a select number of quilting shows each year. I am an engineer by education and training but traded in these skills to be a stay-at-home mom of 3 (and quilter) 7 years ago.

Winning Dream Big Wild Rose Panel quilt by Margaret Solomon Gunn

What did you use for inspiration when quilting the panel?

Inspiration is everywhere, from the vast offerings that nature affords us to simpler things like fences, gears and other more mechanical things. Inspiration is a quilter's jumping off point, and not necessarily what the finished design must resemble. My Dream Big sampler combines fills that are all free-hand quilted (i.e., no computer), some which use the assist of a premarked grid and others that are simply textures inspired by other things.

How did you decide on the design?

The books used for the fills are ones I have self-published. They are on my website MainelyQuiltsofLove.com. One is called "Beautiful Backgrounds - grid-based fills" and the other is "Dense & Dainty, Freehand fills." They are both books about background fills, the first of which all use a premarked grid.

What products did you use when quilting?

My Dream Big Panel was quilted to show sample fills (both grid-based and freehand) that I have in 2 of my books. I also use this as a teaching sample. It has two layers of batting. I used several shades of 40wt Magnifico thread by Superior Threads.