How and what do you choose to do?

[Teri L.]

There are plenty of ways you can quilt on the plain parts of a block as it then becomes a show piece in its own right but what do you choose to quilt over a pieced block that my already be busy with pattern or the quilt needs to be seen as a whole and spending time on something complicated would just not be worth it?

I know the in the ditch is quite common and to scallop a square and even shadowing the seam but what if you wanted a little more? What processes do your thoughts go through? Do you choose the same for all the blocks? What is balanced, over the top or simply not enough?

I've been looking for a good book with some simpler ideas but, of course, every time I put in quilting it comes up with blocks!! To me blocks are patchwork, quilting is the stitching to hold the sandwich and the quilt is the finished product but it all seems to have become a little muddled now. And I've scribbled and doodled so much my head is just mud brown!

Tell me what clarifies your thoughts and sets you on the road to threading up that needle!

[Teri L.]

Are you a hand- or machine-quilter? That might factor in. The quilt has to speak to you. I'm often considering the recipient of the quilt and might incorporate something meaningful to that person. An easy & fun thing to do is quilt "back-to-front", following a design or element from a bold backing fabric. I did that with a Children's Delight pattern (# 10 on my profile), so it's got FISH quilting, quite fun given the fabrics used. You can see the backing fabric in my personal photos, also #10 (that's totally not planned!)

-- OMG, I looked at my profile to make sure that quilt was there, and I realized I've got nearly 12 different approaches on the 12 quilts. Not trying to make ya'll look at all my quilts, but if you want, here's a list. Goes to show there's no one way!!

In order:
NY Beauty - loose squiggles within each point and other pieces, I actually made one continuous line thru the whole quilt
Snail's Trail - followed the "trail" out of the centers, which resulted in a very geometric pattern in the solid areas
Crazy-style - allover loopy lines and 5-pointed stars. (I did that one from the back, so the piecing on the front wouldn't distract me)
Crane quilt, outlined cranes, continuous japanese fans in the borders.
Scrappy squares - parallel diagonal lines, which occasionally turn corners. The back of this quilt is one BIG cornerstone log cabin, so again, working from the back, I used some of those lines as guides.
Cathedral Windows (enough said)
9-patch, individual motifs in the solid areas, trapunto!
Rainbow valence - diagonal parallel lines and followed the design in the rainbow & clouds
Scrappy triangles - Quilt as you go, stitch & flip
Children's Delight - above
Irish Chain - central motifs and straight lines criss-cross w/in the chains
Yellow Brick Road - all over stippled.

That's all in the top 12. In the personal photos, #6 has a funky all-over triple parallel lines connecting the blocks & criss-crossing the circles.
T-shirt & jeans quilts are tied
And one of these days I'll get some real pics of the Bella Bella quilts up, but just as they have different piecing all over, they have different quilting in each section, but mostly adding curves to offset the straight lines.

Florence

[Teri L.]

Loved looking through your collection Florence, wonderful!

It's for machine quilting (that's why I posted in machine quilting :wink: ) and I must say that I really, really, love your idea of ignoring the front and quilting a pattern on the back. Would work wonders on a 'busy' quilt and yours do prove that, especially the fish!!!

Most things I have done have been stippled, ditched or shadowed and I want to go a bit further without too many mistakes further down the line! (IYKWIM!) I also need to make some brain space, it's hot in there and not a lot is working at the moment. :roll:

Lots, in fact most, books, have directions for the piecing and then just fob you off with 'quilt as desired'. Well, if they are a book trying to teach, that isn't really good enough. How about a hint on what would look good for that block, or, here are some ideas take it where you will, or, we quilted by...?

I'm sure I'll figure something out when it comes down to it, I was just wondering how everyone else come to the end result.

[Mandella E.]

You might like to check out Barbara Chainey's book "Quilt It". Lots of ideas in there, and most of them simple to do.

[Susan B.]

Good books:
Feathers that Fly by Lee Cleland

Quilting Makes the Quilt by Lee Cleland

Machine Quilting Solutions by Christine Maraccini

Quilt It! by Barbara Chainey

I'm facing the same quandary as Amanda. I have learned that if the fabric is busy, the quilting doesn't show much so not to stress, and that this is supposed to be fun and I probably won't enter a show for years to come, if ever

[Susan B.]

ops: Uh, Duh... I always go in for "posts since my last visit" and totally forget about categories ops:

another good book is by Lee Cleland, "Quilting Makes the Quilt" where she had 5 (or 6?) identical quilts made of about 10 or so patterns, and they were each quilted differently. It totally shows how the quilting can change the entire look of a quilt!

Florence

[Hannelore N.]

Amo, may I humbly suggest a one day machine quilting workshop at The Bramble Patch.

Lorchen

[Susan B.]

Another idea for quilting inspiration:

I came across mention of Zentangles on a Subversive Stitchers Blog, who had a great interview with Ami Simms about the Alzheimer's Quilt Initiative. (talk about a caffeine train of thought).

Anybody that teaches free-motion says draw first. My free-motion is improving with massive amounts of doodling (in every meeting I have to (ugh) attend. I found this link on Youtube that is quite fascinating. It incorporates many free-motion patterns that I've seen from various artists. There are more, I just haven't seen them yet. Google Zentangle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Nlz4XMxcs

[Susan B.]

Thank you for the book lists ladies. Another couple ordered.

Lorchen, if only the Bramblepatch were in reach!!

Loved that Sue! Sort of thing my son will go mad over and I can see the logic in the doodle idea too.

[Susan B.]

Sue, that is SO cool! If only I had all my high-school notebooks, the margins were full of this! Little did I know there could be a market...
And agree, great inspiration for machine quilting!!

Florence

[Hannelore N.]

Amo, there is a Premier Inn very close (and several other hotels), so you could turn a trip to The Bramble Patch into a mini holiday.

Lorchen

[Susan B.]

Now, here's the cool thing, I haven't done this but theoretically it is possible:

If you have your own good design & you scan it, save it as a .jpg,

With good software you can digitize your doodles & have your machine quilt it for you!

Yikes, was that another forum thread?

[Susan B.]

:shock:

[Susan B.]

I have a book by Sue Patten called Freehand filler patterns. THat has great ideas for many different blocks from 4 patch to dresdens to optical illusion.

[Anne B.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Nlz4XMxcs

That is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life! As someone who can't draw (or doodle--I can never think of anything to draw!), I am totally awed by the thought process that unfolded before my eyes.

Anne in Vancouver, Canada, totally left-brained