sandrab64

Hello: I've been at this quilt for a long time and, frankly, am ready to be done with it. Should I quilt the beige sashing or is it fine left undone? I don't really know what to put in there mainly because of the little horizontal sections under the rectangular blocks. Not sure how to make it flow correctly if I did FMQ in there. I've marked a few designs so you can see.

I'm use a standard 16 x20 glass piece ($5) with painters tape all around it and "Vis-a-Vis" wet erase markers (not dry erase). Put the glass over the area on your quilt you want to audition designs and draw your designs with the markers. The painters tape will remind you not to 'stray' onto your quilt! The markers wipe off easily with a damp rag.

Suggestions on the sashing would be appreciated. It's being gifted to my DSIL who I'm sure won't care of the sashing is quilted or not.

LynnVT

I've got a lot to learn about placing the quilting, so I'll be interested what experienced quilters say about this. I love the feathery design in the blocks and borders, and my inclination would be to leave the sashing plain, unquilted. Sometimes less is more. But the spiraly designs you drew in the bottom pic are kind of interesting. The squiggles to the left of that, not so much. I think they distract.

Tartan

I like the feathers you have marked. I think a one sided feather down the beige with a couple of off shoot feathers into the shadow area would look nice. You could leave the beige blank and just SITD around the rectangles and shadows but I think the beige might look wrinkled without quilting?

ManiacQuilter2

I would be careful not to over quilt it. I would certainly stitch in the ditch in the sashing if you haven't. I like the lines because they accent the rectangle blocks.

QuiltnNan

i like the curls between the blocks. on the straight sashing, i would use some sort of curved quilting to go with the other quilting. i would not use the straight lines in the straight sashing.

LindaM

Your feathers in the boxes look terrific - good work! I'd just do the sashings that are verticals (the u-turns or straight lines) and not the curliques - that would distract from the illusion of the shadows. I agree with Tartan - stitch-in-the-ditch those horizontal light sashings.

I really like the double lines - what about putting a pebble down the middle of the lines? Or wee u-turns between the double lines that would look like a mini-fill?

You might also run double lines in the light horizontal sashings that would connect to the lines in the vertical sash?

Ranchwife

I think I would SITD around the sashing. It would make the sashing stand out a little without distracting from the center panels and their beautiful quilting.

quiltsRfun

I agree with maniac.

PaperPrincess

To me, this is quilt is an optical illusion. The blocks float above the cream background, so to my mind, the cream is like a contiguous plane. Like a wall, or carpet. To continue that illusion, I would either not quilt the cream background at all, just SITD around the black & colored blocks. OR do the lines, BUT, I would have to have all the lines going in the same direction, so the short spaces between the blocks would have to have short lines running parallel with the long ones, which is a real PITB to do. The curls, swirls etc, to me turn the cream into sashing, which (to me) is not what this quilt is about. Guess I have strong opinions on this one!!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, your fabric choices!!!!

Kitsie

IMHO no, I'd leave them unquilted.