To Needlenut,
Thanks for your helpful hints. I have often thought about, but haven't tried yet, the technique of using a backing fabric with an "all over" print whose subject somehow relates to the front fabric and then stitching an outline around the figures on the backing. This would involve quilting in reverse, in that you are doing the stitching on the backing and it shows up on the front of the quilt. This sound doable to me since I have not mastered stipple quilting. What do you think?
NannyQ