Design Help Please

[JBQuilts]

Hello,

I have two tops that I need your help on.  These are to go into a show so I would really like them to shine.  Any and all ideas will be appreciated. 

The star is a wall hanging made of 1 inch squares and1/2 square triangles, all scraps 36 inches square.  The log cabin is also scrappy but outside border blocks are one color.  I will be fixing the block that is turned wrong, for client.

I see 4 different blocks in the LC that would need designs for custom, not including the border unless the border could be incorporated into the design rather than separate.(clear?) The star could be an allover but what.  With such small pieces should the quilting be open or dense, small or medium?  They are very well made, thankfully. 

She wants custom but I don't even know where to start.  HELP!! Please.

[Quilting Heidi]

On the log cabin one I'd do the showy quilting in the white.  You could really do just about anything, a motive in each area with a pretty design in the border, do some fussy geometric designs and do a dense fill around them to make them really pop.  Feathers would be beautiful on that one.  I'd  do straight line work, such as radiating lines would work well in the dark areas.  You could also echo the circular shape.  You could even do some curved cross hatching in that area.  

 

The star one is maybe trickier only because some of the color is more gradual.  I'd probably decide on what area I really want to pop and my eye tells me to make the colored area pop more.  That would mean more quilting in the in the area.  But really there is no right or wrong.  Another suggestion would be to make a circle around the smaller stars light color stars to make that area pop more and then fill the area around it with a more dense quilting to make those areas pop even more.  You could do a combination of that as well.  Do a half circle around the stars in the quarter triangle area then do radiating lines or some other fill in the darker areas.  Be sure to post when you're done. 

[Primitive1]

Heidi has good ideas, on the star quilt, I'd do a denser background in the four corners to really make those stars pop and then do something to try to bring out the large star in the center...

[JBQuilts]

Thanks Heidi and Vicki for responding.  I think I understand what you are saying.  I think my customer is more for traditional quilting,

 hence no straight lines radiating out.  If you could draw something out, I will probably understand better.  What type of dense quilting are you talking about; i.e. meander, swirls, loops etc.?  Also, remember the wall hanging is composed of 1 inch squares, lots of seams. 

[ffq-lar]

Hi Janice.

The wallhanging star will benefit from doing SID around all the light areas--the separate stars and the light-colored "surrounds" that follow the center star out. That's a lot of SID and may be problematic because of potential flipped seams and the all-bias edges of the HSTs. So I would suggest to try invisible thread if you decide to go this route. Those squares are tiny. The colors blend and almost disappear at many places so the SID will make the lights stand tall. After SIDing the stars, see if there is enough quilting to leave them alone. If the stars need a touch more stitching to tack them down, quilt the center four-patch of the stars with a four-lobe CC starting in the center. Again, that will make the stars the "stars".

 

The scrappy background will need denser stitching to help the stars pop, so a dense overall--loops, meander, McT, swirls, etc--will accomplish this. If I was doing it, I might CC the whole background. Do a small section first to see if you like the look and if it's dense enough. If it's not dense enough stitch (don't hate me!) double CCs. Make the first CC curve shallow and the second round nice and fat to fill up a lot of the square. This quilting is tedious but easy and very effective.

 

As for thread color? Dark gold, warm brown, or your favorite blending-sage green would be good choice on those traditional colors of the background.

Have fun with both those tops!

[JBQuilts]

Thanks Linda. Are you saying put a double CC in a 1 in. block  ?  Please say I read that wrong! Do you think CC over 4 squares would work and be enough quilting? I thought about SID the large stars with invisible thread, so that's an option so far.  The exploding stars are lighter than they look in the pic; the quilt behind makes it darker.

 Do you have any suggestions for the log cabin?  All of the light blue is a good place to see all my errors if I don't have a pattern to follow  .

[ffq-lar]

Thanks Linda. Are you saying put a double CC in a 1 in. block  ?  Please say I read that wrong! Do you think CC over 4 squares would work and be enough quilting? I thought about SID the large stars with invisible thread, so that's an option so far.  The exploding stars are lighter than they look in the pic; the quilt behind makes it darker.

 Do you have any suggestions for the log cabin?  All of the light blue is a good place to see all my errors if I don't have a pattern to follow  .

 

 

The double CCs was only a suggestion if you did singles at it wasn't dense enough!

I don't think CCs over a four patch would work because you have so many half-squares interrupting them. If you start at an edge and count over by four-patch units, it all works until you hit a star. Then you have to compensate for the strange shapes of background around the stars where you can't visualize it as a four-patch. An overall would be fine and you could get into all the narrow spots easily.

 

The log cabin quilt is very pretty. When you have all blocks the same--like all the pale blocks and all the dark blocks--finding a design that exactly fits the space works well. When you stitch the design in each area they will be symmetrical and many times form a secondary design. In the pale blue halves you have narrow logs to fill so you need a design that can be stitched all the way to the end of the log and back to the center. Trace the actual shape, including the "stair steps" but not the seams, on paper. Lay tracing paper over or work on a light box and see what you can come up with to fill that exact space. Long ferny leaves would work, starting at the corner and filling each log to its end and back. Or try scrolls. You can audition back-and-forth Cs or oval swirls. The key is offsetting the backtrack to have a graceful "ribbon" effect and so you don't need exact precision in each log.

The circles can be treated as a unit with a favorite circular motif in each one and of course, partials in the rest.

Attached is a LC design with the traditional size square block. I stitched the same design on both sides of the block--not appropriate for your block but an idea of what I suggest.

[JBQuilts]

Thanks Linda.  I thought about your design when I got this quilt, and I thought it would not work for me.(I saved it when you posted a drawing of it . Thanks for that.)  Picking designs is where I have problems, that is why I need drawings to get me going.  This is why I don't do custom.  Give me a panto and save my non-artistic mind.  Even if I can picture it does not mean I can draw it . If you come up with any more ideas, PLEASE, send them on.  Thanks again.

[JBQuilts]

OK ladies and gents, you are going to make me beg.

I am bringing this back to the top.  I still need more help with designs please.  I finished the star and am pretty satisfied with it.  I used invisible thread and outlined all the light areas and put shadow stars in the dark background with the small stars just to tack it down.  They cannot be seen at all.

My problem is still the log cabin,  arrrggghhh!  I had it up on the wall studying it as I quilted other quilts and now its on the frame and I'm still studying.  I HAVE TO GET THIS OFF THE FRAME.  Can someone draw me some cohesive designs for this quilt, please.  I know there are very creative artists on this forum, I've seen them.  Everyone has such good ideas but I need to SEE the ideas and then see if I can execute what you show.  I have been reading and re reading the ideas Linda and Heidi gave.  If you could just draw it out, it would be a big help.  I like the idea of having a secondary design, but again, what?  TIA.

[chickenscratch]

Janice, go to my website and look at the purple log cabin that I did for the customer. Her layout was a little bit different, but I think the same thing could work here.  I can't get a picture to post here or I would.

 

http://sweettscustomquilting.com

[RitaR]

Soo good to see you back with us Teresa..  You have been missed.

 

Loved seeing the quilts in your gallery.. loved the triangle one the most..

 

How large were the triangles, and size of the quilt?  about how long to

actually quilt?  I know quilts in the past are hard to remember specifics

about.. so I am probbably asking for too much!

 

Rita

[JBQuilts]

Hi, Teresa.  So good to see you back.  I like how you quilted that and that was my first thought for a log cabin except the pattern is uneven and the border blocks are one color so I didn't think it would look as good as yours.  Maybe I'm wrong and it will work; don't know.

[JBQuilts]

Heidi, I've been meaning to ask, what is a fussy geometric design?

[chickenscratch]

Janice, thanks.  I can't wait to see your quilt when you get it finished.  I'm sure it will be lovely.

 

Rita. Those triangles were about 2-3" each.  There were millions of them (or so it seemed).  It really didn't take that long because I paid attention to starting points and kept going on for as long as I could before I hit a dead end.  That required lots of mental stitching and finger stitching before I actually turned on the machine.  That was one of my favorite quilts to do, though.  It was a customer quilt, but I'll make one like that some day.