Ideas for a panel?
 

Hi, this is tapper.
I am enjoying my adventures with quilting and I am loving Quilting Board.

I had a panel with Xmas-decorated houses. I cut out the houses and trimmed them to a uniform size. (are all panel pics lopsided??)

I was thinking that I may use an attic window pattern...kinda frame the houses. I have looked at pics
of the AW patterns and saw some really nice ones.
Some questions for those that have made an AW quilt......what is a good size width for the 'sills' and 'ledges'?
Besides adding the thin strip around the framed block, are there tricks to enhance the depth perception?
How do you decide on colors? Do you pick colors that are in the block? I know there should be some contrast between the 'sill' and 'ledge' colors but should it be a bold contrast or more subdued?

Now, I am also thinking that the shadow box pattern is a good one for these houses.

http://anilinblog.blogspot.ca/2010/03/shadow-quilt.html

Do you think that this would be a good pattern for me to use? Any hints on doing that pattern?

Thanks for your help.

This s one of mine.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...s-t207659.html

You need a bold contrast for the sills to get the depth. While i like to use a wood look fabric, any tone on tone or mottled fabric would look fine. You want the contrast tho. Colors would be fine...experiment and have fun with the process.

Shadow box is a great pattern.. Notice the stark contrast used to get that "shadow". You should buy that pattern if you want to tackle it.

Attic windows are simple to make once you get the hang of them. You can miter the corners or use a half-square triangle technique to mimic the mitered corner in the attic window.


The size of my sills are no larger than 25% of the block itself.

Sandy

I like your snowmen.
I was thinking that browns would be nice for the strips but there is a lot of browns (brown brick on the houses, brown tree trunks etc.) in my blocks. I may use 2 shades of orangey-gold as that color is in
the blocks in small amounts.

Thanks for your input and the pic.