Stitch in the Ditch and Echo quilting always work. Leah Day also has some ideas on her website and if you listen to the tutorials, she'll tell you which designs work for what kinds of quilting.

http://www.daystyledesigns.com/365project.htm

I recently had a backing with dragonflies all over it. My LAQ person found a picture of a dragonfly on the computer, enlarged it, then stitched dragonflies as the quilting. It is just an idea. Your wallhanging is beautiful.

I have bought many books on quilting designs and always refer to them for ideas. Use plastic overlay and trace a design and if I don't like it, erase and try others. Feathers will look lovely. Red's ideas sound great to me.

I can definately see some decorative thread work in on the dragonflies. Maybe sid around the small inside border.

I almost always FMQ all my quilts, I don't have patience enough to try fancy stuff. Good luck to all that do. Pretty quilt.

Wow! That's beautiful! I bought that pattern months ago, but I haven't gotten to it yet. I hadn't thought much about the quilting, other than to do something small in the background so that the dragonflies stand out more. Please keep us posted on your project. I'm anxious to see how you quilt it. :)

Whatever you decide to quilt on it will be wonderful. Your top is lovely, you just need to boost your confidence

I think feathers in the open spaces would be neat.

Try some echo quilting around the dragonflies - be a bit loose with it for liveliness (it wont matter if you go a bit off - line then), and then do some machine trapunto leaves or feathers around the outside.

I have a friend who did this quilt, brought it to me to quilt for her since I have a longarm quilting business. I used variegated thread on it with feathers and I put hummingbirds and flowers on the outside borders. She has received many compliments on it.

It's beautiful!

Three words... Go for it!

When I started quilting my friends (actual quilters) laughed and told me I wasn't a quilter; I was a piecer. I would buy the most beautiful fabrics for a pattern and complete the top. But, I always chickened out when it came to quilt it and the new top joined an ever growing assortment of finished tops in storage bins. I couldn't bear the thought of ruining the pieced tops with my amateur quilting. I remained a piecer for many years.

Well, to my delight I actually pieced AND finished a quilt AND was pleasantly surprised with the results. I had bought a fabric with a large printed design for the backing that complimented the pieced top and free motioned around the flowers. I wish I could remember who to give credit to for the idea! But I believe it was a guest on Simply Quilts.

Once I got my feet wet and began taking classes and experimenting with different quilting techniques; I pull out finished tops from the storage bins to quilt and can't remember what the fuss was all about or what I was waiting for. My skills continue to improve with every top that I finish. My goal is to have one of my quilts on display in a quilt show and win a ribbon - While I'm still alive!

Quilt on Friend!

I love it. I would echo quilt the fabric dragonflies & then in the larger open areas I'd do a dragonfly in various positions of flight with swirl lines between them representing flight. You could also have some sitting on a flower.

To help with stitching ideas there is a series by Mary M. Covey called Follow-the-line Quilting Designs which includes full size patterns for blocks & borders. I have 3 vols. don't know if there's more, but they cover a wide variety of subjects.

I think it is amazing I can "see" quilt patterns in someone else's quilts, but can't figure out anything to put on mine. I "see" water lilies in the open spaces, veins on the dragon fly wings and waves in the blue.

I think I would do a little "internal" quilting of the body lines of the dragonfly so it does not "poof" when the rest of the quilt is quilted. outline quilt the ribbon, then small stipple the the rest of it. the stippling will just make the dragonflies and ribbon "pop".
if you can do feathers, Go for It ! that's on my learning list.

I don't have any suggestion on how to quilt it - but the top is so pretty. Love the colors and the dragonflies!

It's beautiful. Love the dragonflies!

google Leah Day lots and lots of ideas, she is doing 365 days of patterns, one a day for a year! and she has vidios on each one on how to do. super good ideas!
oh by the by super quilt!! love the dragonflies :-)

I'm usually horrible at this as well but this one says echo quilting to me! Show us what you come up with, I'm sure it will be beautiful!

love your dragonflies did you have a pattern for them?

I'd like to know about the technique too.

Really beautiful!!!

I would love to see a tutorial on this. If you would do one, I would be grateful.

Just love this wall hanging. Can't wait to see how you quilt it with all these great suggestions. For the background quilting, a light colored varigated thread with the same shades as the background fabric would be a real asset. You are so talented!

Very Pretty! BEE PROUD! :thumbup:

Very pretty top. I'm in the same boat as you - the quilting design is a major speed bump for me especially since I haven't done much FMQ other than "practice" blocks. I too can see some echo quilting fitting nicely on this piece. Good luck. Please show us your finished project!

Thank you for the encouragement - that is a gorgeous quilt and I love the "back to front" quilting. I bought a book on that technique and even bought some backing fabrics, just haven't done anything with it yet, LOL. that label is really cute too ! Great job.

Thank you Mom - I had a great teacher !

That is a beautiful quilt!

Thank you everyone for the words of encouragement and complements and all of the wonderful suggestions - now I have to decide which ones to use for this wallhanging. I have printed out color copies and I'm drawing possible designs on them to see what I like. I will post my finished product. The pattern was bought at Southwind Designs - www.southwindquilts.com and I also mentioned a book I had using the same technique in a previous post.

I will take a look at some of the other tutorials and see how I would go about posting a tutorial for this techniqe - might be fun to do.

Gorgeous quilt

How about quilting dragonflies and butterflies. I have no experience at all on quilting, its just what popped in my head. Its beautiful, and I can't wait to see it and your others done. God bless.

Sorry, I don't have any suggestions.....I never got any further than you did. I just wanted to tell you that your quilt is beautiful.

If you can make a beautiful top like that, you can certainly quilt it. You've already proven your courage with curved piecing! Go for it - you will be fine.