Help!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/onetexsun/3380820403/ For almost two
years I've been trying to quilt this. I've put in curlicues, wavy
lines, clouds, ghost birds ... you name it. And then I've picked every
stitch out. Nothing looks right. So, dear friends, time to kibitz.
Take a look at the photo and tell me what you think should be done
about quilting the quilt. I really want to finish this and right now
I'm considering hand quilting simple far spaced running stitches in
straight lines from top to bottom. No, I don't think it will look
good, but I want this finished and off the WIP stack.

Sunny

On 10/10/2010 05:56, Sunny wrote:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/onetexsun/3380820403/ For almost two
years I've been trying to quilt this. I've put in curlicues, wavy
lines, clouds, ghost birds ... you name it. And then I've picked every
stitch out. Nothing looks right. So, dear friends, time to kibitz.
Take a look at the photo and tell me what you think should be done
about quilting the quilt. I really want to finish this and right now
I'm considering hand quilting simple far spaced running stitches in
straight lines from top to bottom. No, I don't think it will look
good, but I want this finished and off the WIP stack.

Sunny

That is lovely!

You know, I'd stitch in the ditch round those birds, and then echo it
with lines out to the edges... I'd match the thread to the background
to keep it discreet.

--
Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.katedicey.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

My suggestion would be to take a template of the birds, and blow up/
reduce it to different sizes, then quilt the rest of the flock in the
spare spaces. This approach would integrate the scrappy quality with
the formality of the blocks at the bottom.

Then the sides and overlapping out of the 'frame' harvesty wheat
stalks to show the autumnal season. Maybe some fruits coming down
from the top.

This makes it into an arty quilt, of course and probably not one to
snuggle under, but I think it should be on a wall. It's so pretty.

And if you want to get rid, I'm sure I could give it a good home...

Good luck. BTDT, but you will get it done eventually, and whatever
you do will be 'just right'. You'll see.
Nel
(Gadget Queen)

I agree with Nel. My immediate impression was "more birds"! Outline
all the actual birds, then fill in with bird "garlands", i.e. some
kind of continuous-line bird motif so you don't have to start and stop
all the time. Use cloud-like stipples to get from one spot to another,
if necessary.
Roberta in D

On Sun, 10 Oct 2010 00:57:48 -0700 (PDT), Sartorresartus
wrote:

My suggestion would be to take a template of the birds, and blow up/
reduce it to different sizes, then quilt the rest of the flock in the
spare spaces. This approach would integrate the scrappy quality with
the formality of the blocks at the bottom.

Then the sides and overlapping out of the 'frame' harvesty wheat
stalks to show the autumnal season. Maybe some fruits coming down
from the top.

This makes it into an arty quilt, of course and probably not one to
snuggle under, but I think it should be on a wall. It's so pretty.

And if you want to get rid, I'm sure I could give it a good home...

Good luck. BTDT, but you will get it done eventually, and whatever
you do will be 'just right'. You'll see.
Nel
(Gadget Queen)

How about gentle arcs or gently wavy lines going from the top right corner to the lower edge of the top
section (below the birds) and to the left-side border (above the birds). Those lines would represent the air
being displaced by the flight of the birds (similar to the way water is displaced as a swan - or a boat! -
glides through it.

To add interest, you could create the same types of lines around those little birds going off their own way on
the left side of the quilt.

For the bottom section, you could stitch in the ditch around the birds, and then use swirls or meandering to
make them pop.

--
Louise in Iowa
nieland1390@mchsi dot com
http://community.webshots.com/user/louiseiniowa


On 10/9/2010 11:56 PM, Sunny wrote:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/onetexsun/3380820403/ For almost two
years I've been trying to quilt this. I've put in curlicues, wavy
lines, clouds, ghost birds ... you name it. And then I've picked every
stitch out. Nothing looks right. So, dear friends, time to kibitz.
Take a look at the photo and tell me what you think should be done
about quilting the quilt. I really want to finish this and right now
I'm considering hand quilting simple far spaced running stitches in
straight lines from top to bottom. No, I don't think it will look
good, but I want this finished and off the WIP stack.

Sunny

Gonna have to have a temporary name change from Sunny to Cranky Pants. The
quilting you've already picked out sounds perfect to me. Maybe, maybe you
need to set it aside for a while. That quilt is wonderful. It sings and
dances, and it deserves better than 'gitterdun'. Tsk. Polly



"Sartorresartus" wrote in message
...
My suggestion would be to take a template of the birds, and blow up/
reduce it to different sizes, then quilt the rest of the flock in the
spare spaces. This approach would integrate the scrappy quality with
the formality of the blocks at the bottom.

Then the sides and overlapping out of the 'frame' harvesty wheat
stalks to show the autumnal season. Maybe some fruits coming down
from the top.

This makes it into an arty quilt, of course and probably not one to
snuggle under, but I think it should be on a wall. It's so pretty.

And if you want to get rid, I'm sure I could give it a good home...

Good luck. BTDT, but you will get it done eventually, and whatever
you do will be 'just right'. You'll see.
Nel
(Gadget Queen)

"Ghost birds" using the same type shapes of the birds you have alread
there, seeming to migrate off the bottom rows into the blank space.
Tesselate the same design into the rest of the top, even going over
the birds there. Or, you could use those ghost birds and in between
everything quilt attic window type pattern.

Whatever you do it will be gorgeous!

Ginger in CA

On Oct 9, 9:56*pm, Sunny wrote:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/onetexsun/3380820403/*For almost two
years I've been trying to quilt this. I've put in curlicues, wavy
lines, clouds, ghost birds ... you name it. And then I've picked every
stitch out. Nothing looks right. So, dear friends, time to kibitz.
Take a look at the photo and tell me what you think should be done
about quilting the quilt. I really want to finish this and right now
I'm considering hand quilting simple far spaced running stitches in
straight lines from top to bottom. No, I don't think it will look
good, but I want this finished and off the WIP stack.

Sunny

On 10/10/2010 12:56 AM, Sunny wrote:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/onetexsun/3380820403/ For almost two
years I've been trying to quilt this. I've put in curlicues, wavy
lines, clouds, ghost birds ... you name it. And then I've picked every
stitch out. Nothing looks right. So, dear friends, time to kibitz.
Take a look at the photo and tell me what you think should be done
about quilting the quilt. I really want to finish this and right now
I'm considering hand quilting simple far spaced running stitches in
straight lines from top to bottom. No, I don't think it will look
good, but I want this finished and off the WIP stack.

Sunny

I would do the top and bottom differently...with the bottom being more
formal. On both parts you could highlight the birds with SITD as others
have suggested. But on the bottom maybe echo quilting to keep the birds
contained and on the upper part something flow-y to go with the birds
being released. Plus some ghost birds.
Good luck!
Allison

On Oct 10, 2:40*am, Kate XXXXXX
wrote:
On 10/10/2010 05:56, Sunny wrote:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/onetexsun/3380820403/*For almost two
years I've been trying to quilt this. I've put in curlicues, wavy
lines, clouds, ghost birds ... you name it. And then I've picked every
stitch out. Nothing looks right. So, dear friends, time to kibitz.
Take a look at the photo and tell me what you think should be done
about quilting the quilt. I really want to finish this and right now
I'm considering hand quilting simple far spaced running stitches in
straight lines from top to bottom. No, I don't think it will look
good, but I want this finished and off the WIP stack.

Sunny

That is lovely!

You know, I'd stitch in the ditch round those birds, and then echo it
with lines out to the edges... *I'd match the thread to the background
to keep it discreet.

--
Kate *XXXXXX *R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttonshttp://www.katedicey.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

I'd probably just stitch the whole thing in the ditch; I tend to
suggest that to the construction mgr. any time we're at a loss. I
know... it's not very imaginative - even ironic for me - but I never
get tired of the "pillowy" effect it produces, and sometimes it can
bring out something of a 3-D effect almost (but not exactly) like
trapunto.

Doc

On Sat, 09 Oct 2010 21:56:10 -0700, Sunny wrote:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/onetexsun/3380820403/ For almost two years
I've been trying to quilt this. I've put in curlicues, wavy lines,
clouds, ghost birds ... you name it. And then I've picked every stitch
out. Nothing looks right. So, dear friends, time to kibitz. Take a look
at the photo and tell me what you think should be done about quilting
the quilt. I really want to finish this and right now I'm considering
hand quilting simple far spaced running stitches in straight lines from
top to bottom. No, I don't think it will look good, but I want this
finished and off the WIP stack.

Sunny

I actually can see exactly what I would do, now the thing is to figure
out how to explain it....

SITD the birds that are flying off and the ones joining the line from
their blocks, depending on the size of them I think I would do melons
inside them, and a brief echo outside of them to keep the sense of motion
going.
You have seen "God's breath" in assorted graphics? For example humanized
illustrations of the North Wind blowing a wind across the land, or a
deity blowing a cloud across the sky, or in an old children's book of
bible stories there was a picture of God blowing the storm at Jonah's
ship. The wind or the breath always has similarities. Straight lines on
a diagonal, sometimes radiating into a triangle, with the final lines
having sort of cloud curls at the end. I would make the birds fly in a
cloud of god's breath. Lines moving with the birds, smaller cloud curls
near the beginning of the line, expanding in size and coverage as you
progress up with the birds.
At the bottom with the blocks of four birds, I would also do SITD and
melons as for the flying birds, but I would connect them after the
fashion of sashiko hemp leaves, and take the connecting lines into the
beginning of the queue of flying birds.

If that made any sense at all let me know and I will treat myself to a
lollipop.

NightMist

--
I'm raising a developmentally disabled child. What's your superpower?