Quilt as desired.... that's a set of tough decisions for many of us! I rarely identify quilting designs because whether it is you or your "hired" quilter doing the quilting, it is often difficult for one person to duplicate quilting designs in another's quilt.
However - since several of you want some tips/clues... I will describe how I quilted Stars for a New Day.
-- Feathered Star: Stitch in the ditch (right next to the seam lines, in other words) along each piece; in the setting squares and triangles, quilt feathered vines.
-- Feathered Star setting triangles: When setting the star on point, four large triangles are used; in each of these, I quilted a "swooping" feathered vine through the triangle.
-- Four-patch pieced border: Stitch in the ditch along each seam line; in addition, echo inside the setting triangles a quarter inch from the seam line with "chevrons" (V's)
-- Pinwheel border: Stitch in the ditch
-- Setting triangles of Star block border: I stitched in the ditch on all of the seam lines, and then echoed that seam line inside the triangle with chevrons (v's) a couple of times (like 1/4" inside, 1/2" inside, then 1" and 1-1/4" inside) -- I like how adding geometric lines sets the floral prints into place in a pieced quilt
-- Pieced blocks: In each of the pieced blocks, I quilted a feathered wreath on top of all of the piecing. Just as quilting geometric lines on floral prints brings them together with the piecing, feathered wreaths soften the harshness of intricate piecing.
-- Flying geese: Stitchi n the ditch on all seam lines.
-- Staggered Stars border: I quilted a meandering feathered vine around the entire perimeter - across all of the stars. I used a creamy color of thread -- because the fabrics are of so many colors and prints, it blends in nicely and while it is not hidden, it did not stand at attention on top of the colored prints.
"wiggle" line down the center of the strip.
You will note that I "stitch in the ditch" along nearly all of the seam lines. That takes a lot of time - but I believe that it adds to the beauty of a quilt to have the pieces stand out with in-the-ditch quilting. Many long arm quilters don't like to take the time - or hate the "start and stop" nature of such quilting - but I believe it is worth the time.
So where do I come up with patterns for quilting? For nearly three decades, I have stopped at every stencil booth I have seen at quilt shows. I always find three to six stencils that I don't have and want. I buy them and keep them in a clear vinyl tub. I may not know exactly what I'm going to use these stencils for... but when I need one, I can almost always find one that "fits" whatever I am going to quilt. Sometimes it is a combination of stencils that work best -- if the stencil is too small, subdivide the area you will quilt and repeat the motif of the stencil two or three times in the area you want to quilt. Another option is to use the stencil and "echo" around the outside of it if it is too small for the area you want to quilt -- just add a line of quilting a quarter-inch or 3/8" from the outer edge of the stencil. You can do this more than once to enlarge any stencil.
When quilting, it is important to quilt evenly across the face of the quilt -- if you heavily quilt one border and then barely quilt another, your quilt may bubble up along the less-quilted areas - or shrink in the more heavily quilted areas.
Don't short-change yourself when you start quilting your quilt -- after the many hours that you put into piecing it, continue to grow its beauty with the quilting; you will be amazed at how much more you can fall in love with your quilt once it is quilted!
I should also add that the quilting I did on my quilt is only ONE of a million ways to quilt Stars for New Day -- you don't need to do what I did -- my goodness, from looking at the pictures in show-and-tell, I know that you all are just incredibly creative with fabrics, colors, piecing, setting.... and I know you can be equally creative with your quilting. Go for it!
Happy sewing -
Sue Garman
