My longarm group had a "wholecloth challenge" last year, and my greatest inspiration came from images of the Cosmati Pavement in Westminster Abbey. Here's a link:
http://www.westminster-abbey.org/our...smati-pavement
You can also google images of "cosmatesque architecture" -like this:
https://www.google.com/search?q=cosm...ih=921#imgrc=_
I uitlize Lisa Calle's method of designing for the wholecloth - that is, it gets drafted on paper first, including drawing the various fills that I think will work - then go to the longarm and stitch what I just drew.
Here's the resulting wholecloth wallhangings (these are the only two wholecloth quilts I've ever done. Both have been bound since these pics were taken.)