Thankyou. The blocks came from a swap among an online group, probably 6 or 7 years ago. Putting them together and finding some coherence in such a mix of colours was a fascinating challenge.
If and when I finish it, I will definitely post a picture, as that would mean I was finally dealing with the UFOs!

I agree - this approach has worked so well for me for a long time. By the way, those are some nice swap blocks - I've gotten some real cr*p in more than half of my exchanges. GREAT LAYOUT!!!

I too vote for a grey or taupe..Signature thread has one called Mother goose...it is amazing how well that thread blends with EVERYTHING....

grey is my all time favorite to quilt with.

this is what i do, too... the variegation would be wonderful and you will find a color spread that has many if not all the colors involved. I would rething the stipple, but that's because i hate stippling... I think it is going to be a 'dating' function in the future... people are already doing it much less... but anyway... whatever you put on it will be terrific, it is a beautiful quilt... please take a moment to check out this site, which i use for inspiration for almost any quilt...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/freemot...7625110573627/
the samples here are many and beautiful and just think what the variegated thread would do on that white? gorgeous... see what it does to the black?

I spent days on that layout, as I'm not very confident about colour. It was on the floor of my sewing room, and I kept going back for another look and tweak until it was right. Yes, The blocks were mostly very well done - I think there was only one that was a totally different size. But we got plenty of practice - I think we made something like 4 friendship stars a month for several months.

Beautiful quilting. I love the variegated threads, and they were my first thought for this one, but I think the colour range is just too wide - I spent a while with the Superior Rainbows colour chart.
I hear what you say about stippling, but I'm learning a new machine and am also practicing stippling as part of Leah Day's Quilt Along. However, I'm also putting another top together and may use that for Leah's exercise if it's ready in time (ie if I have suitable fabric in stock for borders and backing), in which case I could rethink this one.

just remember, it is more important for the collection of 'tones' and 'brightness' to coordinate with most of the quilt colors... you don't have to have EVERY tone to look right... just take the top to the store and unwind a couple of yards across the top to see.... you have to unwind thread to see what color it is anyway... the intensity of any thread color is multiplied by all the strands together on the spool.... that's why when we are trying to match thread to fabric, we usually end up with the one a teeny bit darker on the spool.... it will simply be better when there is just one strand...