need ideas on quilting this quilt
 

Hi,

I am making this quilt for a friend and I need ideas for quilting it. I don't have a lot of room to lay out the quilt and take a great picture, so I am hoping that I can describe it and show a partial picture. The kids this is for is her son and daughter in law, and they love dogs, especially retreivers. I found a panel that we liked and started with that, then did sawtooth star blocks all the way around. It is a king size quilt. I outlined the dogs and then did some fmq in the circular part of the panel. I did some outline quilting around the rectangles, to look sort of like a frame. The area where help is needed is the sawtooth star blocks, and the brown sashing. The goal is for the dogs to be the focus of the quilt. I had a lady at the quilt shop suggest stitch in the ditch, but I do better at fmq. I am open to ideas. Also, the border is blue, what would you suggest quilting in the border?

Apparently I'm feeling a bit silly tonight - thought it might be fun to put paws and treats (like milkbones) in the centre of the stars ...

In the background of the star points, you could do u-turns - in opposite directions so it ends up looking like a basketweave, and leave the star points unquilted so they puff out. If you do the u-turns so they are very close to the star point edges, it would be like SID - defining the point.

This is a very horrible drawing using paint ... cannot draw with my mouse!
http://www.quiltingboard.com/attachm...d=496141&stc=1

For the sashing and border, what about leaves - small in the sashing, larger in the border. Leaves are a little more masculine than feathers and might fit with the dog theme a bit better? You could throw in a few paws and dog bones in the borders if you do put them in the star centres.

i was thinking dob bones also

I would stitch in the ditch outlining the stars. Since you are good at FMQ, you can SITD using FMQ. This will accent the piece stars. Find a design that will fit in the center square of the stars. I would outline the dogs and stitch in the borders around the panel. That should be enough quilting for this large quilt.

I like Linda M's suggestions. You can also do paw prints going around the blue border as well. Here is an example of one I did a long time ago before I got my LA. I did a stipple around the paw prints to get them to stand out

http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...mq-t54829.html

You won't like my idea but since it's free here it is! I would just meander all over it except the center part where the picture of the dogs are. Trying to be fancy with dog stuff in small areas to me doesn't work! Hope whatever you choose you like it! that's the bottom line!

Donna I do like the idea of meander. In fact, I like all of the ideas. I especially like the ideas of leaves in the sashing and border. I know my friend told me to do whatever I feel like. She says if I like it she will like it as well. Thanks for the suggestions. Will do some more thinking.

I would outline the dog heads and quilt doghouse, leash, collar, ball, water bowl, paw print, fire hydrant, etc. Like LindaM shows. Your imagination is your only limit.

I agree with the idea of stitch in the ditch. You can free motion stitching in the ditch, I do it all the time because I too am better at free motion. Then I would use the ladies idea of footprints and milk bones in the border. Hope this helps.

I also thought pay prints, dog bones and dog items would be cute.

Great ideas I have nothing to add! Beautiful now and I'm sure will be stunning when finished!

my head went to the same place as many others - why not do a paw print in the center of the star and do a continuous milk bone in the sashing. I might alter their sizes doing a fairly large milk bone and then a small one then back to the large one, etc. Just to give interest. I prefer to have my quilting simple so would simply add SITD around the start points and the circles around the dogs.

Love the ideas. I am not an artist, so, where would I find a paw print pattern, and a milk bone. On doing the milk bone, would I do loop-de-loops, between the bones?

google images of these or google images of Paw print clip art or dog biscuit clip art. Then you can print out, enlarge as needed and trace

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q...A&ved=0CBQQsAQ

http://www.google.com/images?q=paw+p...82.EbCCq7z5cEE