I have just finished this wall hanging that I will be giving as a Christmas gift to my BF's parents. While I am capable of basics, like Sitching in the Ditch, I have not done free motion quilting. Any suggestions on the quilting part for this quilt? Or should I ship it to a Long Arm Quilter? Thanks for the input!

I love this. It is beautiful!! Unfortunately, I am too much a beginner to offer any help with quilting ideas. I have only done Stitch in the Ditch, diagonal, and crosspatch....or I think that is what it is called.

I am sure there are experts on this board who can guide you though.

Very pretty. You could do 'echo' stitching around the deer and boarders.

I love this piece, you did a beautiful job, I am not an accomplished quilter so would hesitate to offer you advise on it. Thanks for sharing.

Since you do know how to do Stitch-in-the-ditch, why not do that between the brown and white strips and then do cross hatch in the outside border ( where the squares on point are ). Then for the inside part of the wallhanging you cross hatch, except skip over the deer, so the background is quilted, but the animals kind of stick out. Do you get what I mean?

This wall hanging would be very nicely done with continuous line quilting.
I also agree echo quilting would work beautifully.

I dont know what cross hatch is... but I am looking it up right after I type this! :)

I ditto the echo in those areas..it does not need much quilting to hang on the wall...3-4" spacing is great! GO FOR IT!

So... if I did the echo quilting (following around the deer in the middle), then did the cross hatching in the outside boarder.... I would begin with the echo in the center, then to the cross hatching after? So hard for me to picture...

Check it out here:

http://www.ideas-for-quilting.com/cr...hquilting.html

I would echo first..then decide if you even need to cross hatch the background!

I did see that when i went searching... but to do it in the background where the deer are, how do you stop? That is probably a goofy question.. but I just cant see it in my head.

Lots of good ideas... just very scared to start it and ruin the top. :-/

oh I think outlining/echoing would be lovely..
very good job!!

Would I outline all three deers? Even the third one that is kind of misty?

That would be fun to hand quilt...lovely piece you got there!!

Yes, I would echo all three of them.
If you do echo quilting, you wouldn't need to cross hatch in the middle area, teh echo would be enough. You could still cross hatch in the outer border though if you like the look of it.

This is very beautiful. I would love a gift like this. I am not good at FMQ yet so cannot give you advice. There is alot of talent on the board so they will all help you for sure.

Your work is awesome. I love what you have done. However, I know nothing about quilting the finished product.

I agree it would make it stand out and look real

Nice! I love it ! What a awesome idea for a man quilt. :thumbup:

Personally I would send it to a longarm quilter. Since the body of the quilt is a panel she can do so much more with the quilting than you can. I think the finished wallhanging would be a better finished project than it you would stitch in the ditch, etc.

I would send it to a longarm quilter...but, I am a longarm quilter. Lol.. Seriously, I agree with the echoing and crosshatch. The quilt is great and you will do well quilting it.

I think I will take the easy way out and send it out. :-) since it's a gift, I want it to look really nice. And I need a lot more practice!! But, I plan to use some of your techniques suggested on my practice pieces! :-)

I have this same panel to make a lap quilt for my husband. FMQ is fairly easy but it does take practice. If you haven't done a lot of practice and you want it perfect for BF parents I would send to LAQer. :-)

I think it`s beautiful . how about stitching around animals.I have made cushions/pillows like this and cut a tiny slit in the back and then lightly stuffed it .This then gives it a `3 d` effect.once I had stuffed it I simply slip stitched the opening closed.Then I stitched in the ditch around the frame.hope this helps.

This is beautiful. You could send this to a longarm quilter, but because it is so graceful as is, I would think you could do a great job, stitch in the ditch work and outline the deer. Keep your background simple so it does not distract. As a longarm quilter, I love to quasi-trupunto the focal point - make your deer stand out a little more - put an extra layer of batting behind them. Not much - just a thin layer does wonders. Just a thought.

You've done very nice work! It's a pretty piece. i agree with the suggestions you've received. No need to send it out. And they'll appreciate it knowing it was all done by you.

Very pretty... but do not Quilt yet so can't help out there.

I made a safari /African animals type quilt throw (from Keepsake Quilting) and just stitched a two inch diaganol grid on it and it turned out nice.

Trace off the outlines in your little quilt onto some tissue paper for practice. Make several muslin batting muslin sandwiches the same size. Then you can choose - Either pin the paper to a sandwich, and practice echo quilting sewing right through the paper, or trace the lines with a marker - the ink will travel thgrough the paper into the cloth - and practice sewing quilting patterns on the practice
cloth sandwich.
Forgot to tell you pin it well, or baste it to hold it together -
or spray it.

Great idea! Thanks!

Very pretty. I'm new to quilting and I would outline the dear and beyond that I can't offer more help. Good Luck. Sue

You can stitch around the border design,then along the border. I would outline the deer to make them stand out . Then maybe a light cross hatch for the background. I am sure they will love it.