mjpEncinitas

I’m putting together this applique wall hanging and not completely happy with my color choices. The applique is not sewn on yet. The background will be a little narrower than pictured.
Questions
1. Is the background color too much for the peacock ?

2. I’m going to put a thin border 1” border between the background and the 2” blue border. There are five choices: dark green, mottled light green, light aqua ( with feathers), spring green or no 1” border, background is up against blue border. Which do you like?
binding will be blue. The blocks are from a QB boom.

The peacock looks a little lonely to me on the orangey background. Something feels not quite right but I’m not sure what. My husband thinks I should FMQ big green leaves on the background but I don’t think they would be very visible.

Help my artistic quilting board friends.

dunster

I really like the background and don't think it detracts at all. I don't think I would add an inner border. The contrast with the orange and blue is stunning.

I think what's missing are his legs!

mjpEncinitas

the legs are there. They are light brown. They are going to have to be outlined in a dark color so they show! Thanks

Three Dog Night

I agree with dunster the background is good but not seeing his legs detracts from the peacock. I would change the color of the legs to a dark brown or black (that's just my opinion) to make them stand out, I don't think outlining them would make them show up much better. As for the border I like the dark green or no border at all.

Tartan

There does seem to be some negative space around the peacock. I wouldn’t ad another border but I might use a variegated thread in the orange background to quilt. Very pretty!

Macybaby

I like the way you have the dark orange base, moving to lighter. However I think going even more towards yellow at the top right (head of peacock) would make it stand out more. I'd swap out that one dark orange at the very top too

mjpEncinitas

i can’t redo the legs easily but I can use FMQ to add some heavy dark brown quilting to them. Then they will show up!

mjpEncinitas

yep that dark orange at the top needs to go. I can shift the peacock around and see if that helps. The background is bigger than it needs to be. Thanks Macy

mjpEncinitas

i bought a variegated orange thread just for that. Great minds think alike. Thanks Tartan

cashs_mom

Just my opinion, but I would like the background better if it was more muted and not as patchwork-y looking. The peacock is a very sophisticated image and the background isn't. A yellow/cream background in pieces with very little contrast would be more pleasing to me and more sophisticated to go with the peacock. A more muted background would also make the peacock stand out.