Suggestions for lady liberty panel

[maggienoella]

 

I don't know how I should quilt this panel.  The piecer added borders and I know I'm going to do ruler work stars in the extra border but I have no idea what to do with the panel. 

Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks,

Joan

 

[ffq-lar]

Hi Joan.

 

I'd just quilt what's there, giving depth to a flat picture. Stay on the edges and use a thread that doesn't show. Outline Lady Liberty, the flag including the stripes, the small blue surround, and the horizontal lines of the space around the big letters.

Depending on the size of the panel and the budget of your customer, make decisions about more quilting to accent the center. A medium custom job would add detail lines in the shadow spaces of Liberty--the dark areas of her crown and torch, creases in the garment, the shadowed areas of her face, etc. Stitching around the "God Bless America" letters would add some oomph. Using a filler on the blue background of the letters would add even more. Full-on sculptural custom would have all the dark areas on Liberty fully stitched down--probably with micro-stitching or close horizontal lines. That would be stunning. But expensive and fussy to do.

Just thought I'd offer you some options.

The flag border would be great with regular old piano keys to make a frame, close enough together to match the scale of the inside illustration.

That'll make a great center to build around. You can do the extra detail work in the center to fancy it up, while still keeping simpler quilting on the added borders, since the center is the focus of it all.

[Zora]

I would follow Linda's suggestions exactly, since that's what I was typing before I was called away. The only thing I would add is doing cross hatching in the star strip with the diagonal lines going between the stars. I especially agree with piano keys in the flag print border since it is too busy to show much. Please post pictures when it's done.