Agree. Tough to hand stitch over all those seams

shifting, bunching, etc.

Very useful, thank you! Starting in the middle it is, then.

I forgot to mention that this is going to be a modern-looking quilt, so feathers aren't quite what I'm aiming at. I know that traditionally the seams were embellished with embroidery and such, and I can see how that fits in, it's just not the style I'm going for here. I'm definitely not planning to SID around the blocks before filling them in, that's exactly how I got into trouble last time! The quilt is thoroughly basted anyway, don't worry, with herringbone thread basting. I'll probably only SID around the blocks if I really need to, but with this sort of batting I reckon I can get away without it. I'm not going to SID inside the blocks, there are too many fabric layers to make that feasible with hand quilting. Some of the blocks are going to be incredibly difficult to get a needle through due to foundation piecing, and the heart appears to have been fused onto crazy-quilting and was noticeably tough to baste. It also hasn't been properly pieced, the pieces have been appliquéd down with a zigzag and some fraying edges are already beginning to show, so somehow I will have to repair that.

I'm thinking of separate leaves rather than a vine, plus the odd spiral. Where there's space to get a big enough leaf in, I'll put a simple pattern inside, a spiral or similar. This isn't going to be dense quilting. If quilts can handle being tied, presumably they can cope with this level of quilting as well.

Your discussion of how to spread the leaves around is giving me a much better feel for how to unify this quilt with motifs, so thank you again.

Another question: do you think this quilt is likely to run like crazy if washed with a colour catcher, considering that not all of the fabrics will have been prewashed (you know block swaps, especially when you ask for scrappy) and that it's largely reds? Because if it's going to be safe to wash, then I can mark it all over with a washable marker and thus mark up the whole thing in advance. If not, I'll have to use a chalk pencil and mark as I go, since that tends to rub off if it's on a section of the quilt I'm not currently working on, especially if it's the bit that gets the Q-snap clamped over it.

To answer this question:

"I don't know how they were generally quilted"

They were tied becaue of the layers and heavier fabric.
I certainly admire you to even consider hand quilting with pearl cotton through all those layers.

How do you plan on using the quilt. Do you plan on entering in a show, use on the bed, wallhanging. etc.

It's being given to a charity to raffle off, and it's designed as a sofa quilt.

I'm currently planning to do only minimal quilting in the blocks, which still leaves lots of space with the sashing and borders. I'm just not used to dealing with this sort of quilt, design-wise.

Many thanks this is the way we learn. Cant wait to see the end product, please share then with us.

Love the randomness (is that a word?) of your quilt. Sorry, no advice on the quilting - I am a piecer not a quilter LOL
Pippa

Basting is the key both directions and start in the center.
Very pretty.
Good luck.

My advice for making sure the colors won't bleed would be to dip the entire quilt in a salt water bath. My dad told me to do this years ago with a red outfit my daughter just loved and it never lost a bit of color. The salt seems to set the dyes. Since then I always do this with any outfit or item that has red in it and it hasn't failed me yet. Fill your tub with lukewarm or room temp. water and disolve a couple of cups of table salt in it. Soak the quilt for about 10 minutes or so then run it through a rinse cyle in the washer. If the idea of soaking the entire quilt makes you nervous you could try it in a small basin with some scraps.