Panel quilt/What next?
 

I'm working on a panel quilt for the first time. I added the quarter-triangle-squares and the four patches to get it squared up, but now I'm stumped. Usually my quilts "tell" me what they want, but this time, I got nothing.

The panel itself is 30"x40", and with what I've added, it's about 50" square. I don't have a finished size in mind, but my brother is a big guy, so I probably should add at least another 10" all the way around, but I'm not opposed to going bigger than that.

Any suggestions for for what to do next would be greatly appreciated, especially if it's scrappy or can work with the fabric in the second picture.

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If it won't upset the pattern of the 2nd fabric too much, how about a 5" border (top and bottom wider unless you want it square), then adding some pinwheels all round, say twice the size of your QSTs. You would have to organize no and sizes of the p'wheels as a guide to measurements for the previous border.

Hope my thoughts are understandable.

You could try adding a (slightly wider than the sashing) border of the brown sashing color, then another wider border of the print, the maybe some tree blocks around the perimiter all pointing to the center, and finished with another border of the print, and brown binding? (Kind of the effect of a frame for the panel, and a showcase for quilting.)

you could do a wider border and quilt paw prints into it. then maybe finish off with a piano key border

All great ideas so far! and you could incorporated the 2nd picture into the backing so it is not such a plain jane.............

That's really beautiful so far!

Bear Paw blocks are a great idea for the top and the bottom. My first thought was to make tree blocks in the same colors for the top and bottom. It sounds like you don't need width as much as length.

No suggestions but I love your quilt. The colors go great with the panel.

Gorgeous panel and what you've added really enhances it. If your brother is a big guy, you'll want to think of his wingspan and height. I like to take height + 10 inches to wrap under the feet and snuggle under the chin.

I would audition a dark charcoal or black (the darkest shade in the wolves' coats) and do maybe a 3" solid stop border, then the grey (second picture fabric) then piano keys of your colorful scraps, and bind it in dark brown.