How would YOU hand quilt this?

[Juliet W.]

This has been too hard and now I have a quilt top. It looks simple now because I eliminated all the Dresden plates and split Circles and other stuff which made it look a mess. The photo lacks the last border which will be the medium blue Normandy Court scroll material, which is the 5th fabric from the top right. The blocks are 19" (and a wee bit!) square and the yellow is bright (er than I would like but now I have to finish this thing!). So, at first I thought I had to do something curvy because the blocks are square and thought of Baptist Fan but it would be huge and I think I should perhaps do a feather or something special in the yellow 3"
x 19" strips and then what because all the blocks are wonky sizes, there are squares and rectangles. This top is up on my design wall and having looked at it more I think I could cross hatch it because the patterns on the fabric are curvy, this would be lovely and quick and soothing after the trials and tribulations. Oh help? I know there aren't exactly rules but I just haven't got enough experience and only get in more of a muddle as I troll through my books and the internet. I do know I would dearly like to do something a bit simpler as in easy as I have already invested so much time in this one and my sister is wondering what on earth I am making! The outer border after the yellow will be 12 to 15 inches deep, I'm waiting for my sister to decide how much drop she wants. The thread I have is Superior Treasure Little Prince 570, a variegated blue. Ready to listen to any suggestions, thanks.

[Margo C.]

Since I don't do any hand quilting, I'm not going to make any suggestions beyond pointing out that any quilting you put on this quilt is not going to show much because of the busy fabrics. In the 3" x 19" yellow strips you might want to do something special, but if you use your blue thread there, every stitch will show!
If you are anxious to get it finished, can you machine quilt it and save your hand-work for another project where all that work can be seen?

[Norma H.]

I would not! I would put it in my machine to get it done. It seems like you are a bit tired of it because you already spent so much time on it. I myself is working on a quilt, that has been waiting way too long to be quilted. It's more simple than yours but I decided to quilt it diagonally with serpentine stitches (wavy lines), because I want a soft quilt. My blocks are 10" and I started out with King Tut thread on the diagonals on each block. Then I fill in with The Bottom Line thread 2 lines more in each block and that's it. I only have a photo with basting at the moment. Will share the quilt in the What Will You Finish First in 2013 thread when it's done.
I hope this will give you inspiration to what you like to do.

[Norma H.]

here is my tuppence worth for ideas...
find a mug that is about 3" diameter and use it to develope patterns along the yellow sashing (there are more possibilities than I have shown here). You could put a cable along the yellow outer edge and then make a larger cable to fit the final border. and then just do cross hatching over the blocks
Hope this helps to get ideas going for you.

[Rita C.]

What Rosemary is suggesting looks lovely but I think that would take such a long time to do. Personally I would use my walking foot in the machine and do serpentine lines - a-la Jacquie Gering. They don't have to be tight together - every inch or so would do. Margo is right about the business of the fabrics preventing any quilting from showing so there is no point in investing a lot of time at that. Here's one I did just using the serpentine stitch with random spacing. The only thing I was careful of was to start in the centre and use something as a guide (I used masking tape) to keep my lines relatively straight. Good luck with it.

And a detail:

[Juliet W.]

What a lot of lovely replies. I will hand quilt it because I have not yet machine quilted an entire quilt only bits and I find hand quilting therapeutic. I am hoping that the blue variegated thread on the yellow will show and tone it down a bit. It is very true I was tired of it but I didn't ask for help soon enough and am now am looking forward to the quilting process which I had begun to think would never happen. I love the idea of a mug to make the designs, worth much more than tuppence. This time I will mark at least the yellow before I baste it. I like the idea of a cable in the yellow or even a feather, would a feather design look pretentious/odd? I love the serpentine design idea and could easily make a pattern, a friend cuts them out for me on thin MDF then I sand and seal it and use it again and again. Pretty sure I will opt for the easier cross hatching with masking tape, it's so quick. Out of curiousity I went straight to my machine, a Pfaff 2048 as I had no idea if I had a serpentine stitch and I think this is stitch no 61, will have to try it.The other reason I can't machine quilt is that I haven't got my machine level on a big space, a friend made me an extension out of wood for my machine and this is very helpful for adding borders and some quilting but I really feel that to quilt without pain I need to have the quilt parallel to the machine needle. I am pretty sure that I will probably opt for the easier cross hatching with masking tape it, it's so quick and the extra effort for wavy lines wouldn't show. Heartfelt thanks to all, Margo, Zarah, Posy and Rita.

[Nancy R.]

Hi Margarita -

I don't think that feathers would look pretentious. Even though the quilt pattern is more modern, the fabrics are pretty traditional and feathers would mirror the organic nature of the prints. Cross-hatching the rest of it would be a nice counter to the feathers and, I think, would mirror the modern/traditional feel of the piecing. I think the serpentine stitch is wonderful for machine quilting because there's no more effort to that than to straight stitching, but I wouldn't use it for hand quilting on fabric that hides the stitching. Just not worth the effort. I'm glad the frustrating parts are over and now you can enjoy the hand quilting! It'll be a lovely piece when you are finished!!

Nancy

[Juliet W.]

How well put, the frustrating parts are over! The decisions are made and now I can have a fun time looking for a feather that will fit, I heard you can draw them yourself with a coin so I will be Googling that. That the fabric is traditional and the pattern modern had not occurred to me, the original Highlight quilt is made with a collection of lovely modern fabric in yellow, black and white, the Taxi Collection by Timeless Treasures. Thank you Nancy.

[Nancy R.]

If you look back at the recent Sue Nickels episode, she shows how to draft feathers. Maybe that will help.

Nancy

[Juliet W.]

Thanks, and there is a very good one I found by Googling by Sue Garman who designed the first ever BOM for the TQS, and a lady called Margo comments her appreciation!

[Margo C.]

[Margo C.]

I haven't read all the other suggestions so just ignore this if it is a repeat--I will repeat what Margo said--the quilting will not be seen on anything but the yellow. So, if your outermost border is going to be 12" or more and it will be the yellow fabric, I would be tempted to machine stitch in the ditch on the body of the quilt and use my hand-quilting on the yellow (if you want to do hand-quilting). It sounds like you are ready to call this quilt done so I would do what I enjoy most and what ever gets the body of the work done. Take a little break from it by doing something small--like maybe a quilted postcard--and then look at it with fresh eyes.

[Juliet W.]

The outside border will be the blue scroll and if my sister goes for 12'' or even 15" I don't know if you can put in a cable that size or do you have to split it up with something above and below? Not there yet but wondering!

[Margo C.]

Margarita, if you are looking for border designs, the Stencil Company has 21 pages of borders in assorted sizes, so maybe you will find some inspiration here:

http://quiltingstencils.com/viewallborders.aspx

[Juliet W.]

Margo you are too much! A link direct to the page to browse, thank you so much! :!: