I need ideas please
 

This is the cutest redwork top and I'd like to hand quilt it. I just don't think machine quilting would do it justice but I may be wrong. Any ideas on how to do it? I'm thinking cross-hatch but wondered if anyone had anything else to say about it. Note some of the whimsical blocks. It's adorable. TIA

Straight line quilting about one half inch from the red lines separating the squares

Then echo quilting about one half inch from each embroidered shape.

You could make the quiltng closer the the block edges and fill with cross hatching or a fairly tight meander if you wanted more dense quilting.

I agree that it deserves to be hand quilted.

SusieQOH ... What a treasure!!
This looks old ... do you have a story about it to share with us?
How large is this quilt? and each square?
I'm excited for you!!

Once pressed ....
Will the "sashing" lines be fairly straight and square?
Does the overall quilt top lay good and flat?

Assuming positives ... I'll take BearIsGray's ideas a bit further.

What I am envisioning, is to give it the appearance of mullions in a multi-paned window frame. Quilt close but not too close to those sashing lines. 1/4" to 1/2" depending on the overall size of each window. Then echo quilt around each motif, if it is small, and nothing else if the squares are not too big. Or if a larger window pane, the mullion effect with cross hatching. But just up to the embroidery, with no echo quilting.

You have a lot of work ahead of you!! :)

I agree. It is adorable!! I also agree with hand quilting it. Other than that I'm no help,

Thanks for ideas!
This top is not fragile at all. It's quite sturdy and the redwork is beautifully done. The blocks are 10 inches. I don't know the history of it as I found it years ago at a flea market. It's old for sure but as I said quite sturdy. The edges are finished and I'm wondering if maybe it was used on top of a bed as some sort of summer cover? I don't really know.
Several blocks are so whimsical. One has a picture of a pig and a child and it says "poke me". Really darling piece.

Have you started yet? :)
I'm really excited for you and know you will have an interesting time as you work on it, considering the different pics and the stories they are telling you.

Here's another idea ... would be a little less quilting but could be quite effective.

Keep with the same mullion design I suggested to frame in each block.
Still outline or echo quilt the embroidery.
Then quilt from corner to corner like an X, but not on the motif.
Measure in same distance on top left and bottom right. Quilt the line between those points. Continue on around the block with these angle lines. I'm thinking the ends would be 2" apart around the frame.

Gives you a starburst effect. So less quilting than the cross hatch.

I did this with an embroidered wall hanging with different cardinals in each block, but machine quilting. I really like how the lines draw my eyes into the embroidery and see the difference from one cardie to the next. But was quite fiddly with all the end points of the stitching lines requiring a lot of burials! Bonus, you wouldn't have the same burial issues!! :)

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Agree on the hand quilting - but I would echo around the shapes and fill the rest with cross hatching.

I had a redwork top like that, it was obviously hand drawn designs, but charming. I remember an owl with an umbrella. Years later, at the Vermont Quilt Festival, I saw another one and realized it was a commercial pattern and the one I had was copied from the commercial one, by someone who couldn't afford to buy the pattern.

Are these designs hand embroidered or are they printed? The way the "sashing" is, I'm thinking they might be printed.
I have yardage of redwork Sunbonnet Girls that are similar to this but they are printed. I'm tempted to embroider over them but lots of work doing that!
I agree to hand quilt around the designs and frame inside the "sashing". Depending on the size of each "block" you may not need to do anything extra within the block. But crosshatching or straight lines in a starburst would be very attractive.