Begging for help again
 

I'm making this for a BIL and his girlfriend. I'm nearly done with the top, but have no idea what color thread to use, nor how to quilt it without taking away from the batiks. I'm a weenie still with free motion quilting, so it will have to be fairly simple. You all are wonders with your helpful ideas. The pattern is "Eclipse."

No quilting advice from me, but it sure is beautiful!

Very nice! The colors and arrangements of blocks is very striking.

Since you have mostly cool shades, I'd go with a light gray/silvery thread. A cool beige would also work well. A contrasting thread like black or rich gold would look great too but any FMQ goofs will show markedly. What colors do you BIL and his girlfriend like?

I would take it into a local quilt shop and see what thread and quilting design they suggest.

I think I would pick sage green thread and quilt loops or bubbles.

I agree with Jane Quilter--sage green and a loops or bubble pattern---BTW your colors are great; my favorite combination!

Another vote for light-medium grey in a 50wt thread -- Aurifil is a great option because it is 2-ply (most threads are 3-ply) so it shows up even less. It will blend in the most & not show much (which seems to be what you want). If you want the quilting to show, I'd go with a bright orange to create a triad color scheme.

I'm not sure if your comment means that you don't want to do much FMQ & need to keep it simple -- in which case, I'd suggest either a basic meander because no one will even know if you mess up since it's meant to go every which way, or you could just do a stitch in the ditch following around the pieced curves. As long as it doesn't bug you a lot to ccasionally have a stitch or two outside the ditch, I must say that I personally find FMQ "in the ditch" to be probably the easiest stitch pattern there is for FMQ.

If you are completely opposed to ever trying FMQ, you could try going slowly & following the curve with your walking foot. You might even try a zig-zag stitch so you don't have to be as precise. Or, you could do a wonky crosshatch where you quilt through the center of the "pie piece" the one direction & quilt from the edge of the curve to the edge of the curve the opposite direction. Quilt the solid squares in a traditional crosshatch or however you like.

I'd try to find a colour that compliments all the colours eg grey( would need to see next to colours to make a definite comment).
I wanted to quilt round the circles and 3/4 circles to emphasis them.

Perhaps you could use more than one color. Use a soft green on the purple and a color of purple on the green. Consider using 40/3 thread such as Superior's King Tut or Sulky. Maybe even variegated threads. Your quilt will be very pretty. Simple quilting will be very pretty. Curves using your hopping foot or walking foot would be very pretty and very complementary. Please do not meander as it would be distracting from the lovely organized curves in your blocks.

I'm not a novice at FMQ, but haven't done an awful lot either. That's a lovely quilt & my first thought was bubbles or pebbles as they're called. Just little circles all over. It creates a fun texture & would compliment the top. I would probably use a neutral thread unless you're more sure of yourself after practicing and then I'd use variegated purple thread! Beautiful either way!! Best of luck with whatever you decide!

I love the look of crosshatching but you have to say do you want to have the thread show. I would first ditch the vertical and horizontal seams then come in with a matching thread and stitch with your walking foot following on the inside the curve a few times. You made a very beautiful quilt.

Looks great and I vote for a light grey.

I would probably choose grey thread. My first thought for the quilting would be to emphasize the circles and partial circles, maybe by doing an echo curve in the areas outside the circles, and some squiggly rays out from the circle centers. I'd experiment with a vinyl overlay. A large meander would probably look very nice, too. It's a beautiful quilt!

Absolutely beautiful quilt. I think that any kind of crosshatching would detract from the beautiful curves on the quilt. I would ditch quilt the curves, and add some additional curved quilting.

I would quilt with a light grey thread. I had a quilt once that I made & could not figure out what color to use for the quilting. I used a light grey & it blended very, very well.

Your quilt is BEAUTIFUL and I am sure they will think the same.

A light gray or pale sage green thread would blend in nicely. I don't FMQ either, and quilt everything in straight or wavy lines, edge to edge with my walking foot. Because your quilt has nice curves and movement, simple straight lines 1" apart would look great.

Maybe a varigated with those colors!!

I am just getting used to FMQ on my new Juki. I have some light gray quilting top thread, and though I love the variegated threads, I'd have to buy it online. I'm not sure about matching the tones in the variegated thread. I just learned that I'm getting a longarm this weekend and will have to learn how to use it! What a nice problem! Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions!

Yes. No crosshatching for me, either. Would over-shadow the circles.
SID would be nice I agree.

This quilt is going to be beautiful when finished...I love the colors. If I were doing it, I think I'd use a soft taupe or grey thread. As for quilting, simple is best, perhaps a SITD following the curves for an all-over flowing design? Just my humble opinion. It's really very pretty and your recipients are going to love it!

I too, think cross hatching would detract from the curvy lines of this beautiful quilt. I think I would echo stitch around the curves of the half circles & perhaps some kind of sun rays coming out from the other parts of the block (if that makes sense) I definitely would echo stitch around the half circles.

I would use lt grey or purple thread and stitch in the ditch with a walking foot on all of the curved pieces. Pin or spray baste well. I would spray baste. Great quilt!

I would see how a light mauve looks or a light green

Rather than SITD, I would do a simple outline stitch staying about 1/4" from the edge of the circle arcs, outside them. If you can't find a green/purple/beige variegated thread, then I would go with a sage green as others have mentioned.

For a real emphasis on the arcs, you could outline stitch both outside and inside them, at 1/4" away.

I like the idea of doing a crosshatch; it is different from repeated circles.

Congrats on the new LA!
As far as trying to match variegated threads to your fabric, speaking from experience, I've found that it usually is better to pick a variegated thread that is a strong contrast to the fabric you're quilting. When I've matched it to my fabrics, it ends up looking like I've left areas unquilted wherever the thread matched the fabric. Now I make sure to either pick a solid color that matches, or to pick a variegated thread that shows up equally on all my fabrics regardless of which color/tone of thread I'm working with in the variegation. Some advanced FMQ quilters are able to know when the thread is about to change colors & can move to either always match or always contrast with the fabric ... I'm not nearly that skilled. I'm just happy if all my stitches are properly formed & roughly the same length through all those corners, curves & turns. :thumbup:

This is what I would do. Use the light grey and the X pattern to quilt.

I heard that Taupe is a great neutral color that goes with just about anything - but grey would be nice too.

My idea for the quilting is SID and echo-stitching for the circles (and quarter-circles).

What color is your binding? You could extend that color by using it for quilting thread. Not bold enough to show off you quilting? Then, yeah, you could use silver gray.

Your quilt is going to be gorgeous! I love your color selections. I made a version of this quilt for my son and just did a stipple over it all.[ATTACH=CONFIG]549894[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]549896[/ATTACH]

I agree with the others who suggested a light gray color thread, no matter what design you choose. Good luck with your decision.

Leslie

Beautiful quilt. I would probably use a variegated -- or maybe a lavender and green variegated. I tend to do things simply and I favor the geometric. have seen some of these quilts where the pieces are outlined and then there are smaller cross hatches contained within the pieces rather than larger cross hatches - the straight lines contrast with the arcs.

That is one awesome work of art. Please post a picture of it after it is finished.