Need some expert advice please

[Anette D.]

I am getting ready to quilt a queen-sized customer quilt. I cannot post pictures yet. It is a sampler quilt with a large center medallion. She wants it to be special.

Should I quilt each block entirely different OR should each block be different with a common theme OR should each block be as similar as possible?

I have an important appointment to keep, but I will try to post a diagram this evening.

I welcome any feedback you can offer. Thanks in advance

[Guest Linda S]

Anette - it's kind of hard to offer advice without a photo, but on any quilt, I try to have some sort of theme to tie it all together. Especially on a sampler, you can really get far afield with way too many designs and things can become a bit disjointed and busy. That's not to say you have to be boring, but try to have some sort of unifying motif with interesting tangents - kind of like a symphony!

[quiltmonkey]

Originally posted by Anette D.

Should I quilt each block entirely different OR should each block be different with a common theme OR should each block be as similar as possible?

I'm no expert on advice, but for me, on samplers, each block can be quilted different but with a common theme (e.g. use feathers or CCs... or a combo if both). I think if you have too many different types of quilting designs going on it's confusing to the eye.

[ffq-lar]

Keep the density even and the designs similar. As both Linda and Shana advised, stay with a similar motif as your base and change up here and there for variety. I love samplers!

[Anette D.]

Thank you all so much. I am trying to design on paper (with the top hanging on my quilt wall) before I put it on the frame. I was leaning toward a common theme and am happy that you reinforced that idea. I can't do feathers well enough for a customer quilt (yet). I'll have to think of something easier for the background areas, sashings, and borders.

If there are more ideas, I would be honored to hear them.

Thanks, again.