Texas quilt - ideas welcome

[kusmaulk]

Got a call from a lady who had this quilted, and was disappointed in the quality of the job, so she is ripping out the ENTIRE thing and wants me to redo it for her. While she is ripping, I will be thinking of ways to quilt it. Please offer your input, as I am a babe in the woods here.

thanks,

Karol

Inverness, FL

[mrmquilt]

Could you quilt stuff from the State of Texas?? Like the state

bird, flower etc in some of the open space and then do some

quilting around all that??

I'd definitely find out what the other quilter did so you don't

do something similar.

Michele

[PattyJo]

What about a large star that would connect the red, white & blue in the state. Maybe echo that a few times, and as Michele said, some of the state symbols. Longhorn's, flower, bird, oil wells,etc. Also, I would think about using a red/white & blue verigated thread. Just a few more suggestions.

[mrsbishwit]

What about quilting the "yellow rose of Texas" as an ETE type design since the quilt has so many big areas, custom may not be the way to go with this one. There are so many pantograghs with the rose theme Willow Leaf studios have a few...like...

Rosie

Tea Rose

Then Design's by Deb have...

Maggie's Roses

Deb's Special Roses

I think just about any panto designer has a rose design that they offer.

[Mary Beth]

oh Joann is onto something here...do a rose panto in the yellow for the "yellow rose..." then do a big star over the symbol of the state...maybe one of those stars like a marshal's badge with a big circle, then a smaller circle (about 2" smaller) then the star in the middle. Humm....then I don't know...i'm out of ideas.

[kusmaulk]

I like the idea of yellow roses in the big yellow space. What about the three borders? What about inside the state shape? Maybe do roses all over the middle, and something different in the borders? I have an appointment with her this Saturday, and need some ideas. (She should be finished ripping all the stitches out by then)

I sure need the voice of experience here!! Please help.

thanks.

[ramona-quilter]

You didn't say how big those borders are.

White border: How about a couple lines of freemotion barbed wire in the white border.

Red Border: draw the head of a texas longhorn and quilt it horn to horn in the red border. Or Pampas Grass - looks like clamshells with 3 straight lines between bump

Blue borders: The state flower of Texas is the Texas Bluebonnet.

I like the idea of the yellow roses in the yellow. I would put a 5-pointed star off-center on the Texas profile over where Austin would be.

You might want to look up some images or ideas from the internet like the Alamo, logo for NASA Space Center Houston, oil well, bucking bronc, stars.

Another idea might be pantos by Dave Hudson at Pattern Station; cowboy hats and boots, etc

Of course, these images/quilting must be something you can do on your machine. If your potential customer is willing to frog an entire quilt, she is not going to be easy to please.

I hope you post a photo when you are done.

[LindaB]

Karol....

First thing that comes to my mind is a question.

1. How was this quilt quilted...

2. What was it about the quilting this lady didn't like...

I think once you know those answers, perhaps it will help in what design choices not to choose and also help determining what this customer is looking for. FWIW....

Good luck, let us know, we're always here to help...

[Sheri Butler]

Linda B...you took those questions right out of my mouth!

I was thinking the exact same thing...!!

I'd play the 20 questions with the customer FIRST, before you start.....just incase she likes frogging. LOL!!!!! (And you want a repeat customer...of course..)

[Bekah]

Please keep us updated on your decisions. this could be one heck of a fun quilt to take charge of. I like all of the ideas above.

I just received an American Hero quilt that has an appliqued cowboy on a bucking horse made out of flag material to quilt. so maybe I can borrow some of the ideas floating around here, not the roses but some kind of cowboy theme.

I will try to post a picture.

[pfrost]

There's another panto to consider using in parts of this quilt; it called Texas Longhorn (purchased mine from The Pattern Station--not affiliated--they just have a good selection of pantos). It's a combination of Texas-related items. There's the outline of the state of TX, a star within the outline of the state & longhorn cow heads. Also, you might consider using a border treatment of horseshoes (for which The Pattern Station has another panto).

It'd be interesting to learn what the client didn't like about the quilt when it was originally done.

Be sure to post photos when you're done with it!

Pat

AZ:cool:

Mille

[LindaB]

SheriB.....

I too would ask this gal a lot of questions and get a real understanding of what she dislikes, likes.

Proceed with caution!!!

[quiltmonkey]

Whatever you decide to do with this quilt, pretty please share your finished quilting job with us.

You know what they say: "Quilting makes the quilt." I think this is a beautiful quilt top that has soooo much open area with sooo many opportunities for creativity. Let your imagination go and I know it will be awesome when done.

Please post pics when finsihed.

[kusmaulk]

She sent me some photos of the first quilting job, and some of the things she objected to. Some were tension problems where the thread was just laying on the top surface of the quilt, or where he had just taken some stitches out and not restitched. One was a tuck that had been quilted into the backing. One was a place where it looked like he had jerked a bit and didn't fix it. He had done a panto of a fleur de lis design. I didn't see the quilt, but I think she was also disappointed in how the panto fit.

She and I are meeting on Saturday morning to discuss what she wants me to do. I will be very careful on this one.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I'll let you know what we decide.

[kusmaulk]

I met with this quilter this morning. Here is our plan: Meander in yellow thread all over the center and the red border. Leafy vine in yellow thread in the white border. Roses in navy thread on the blue border. This is what she decided she wants. Later, she plans to put star buttons on the places in Texas where she has lived.

The charge will be a blended price as some is simple meandering, and some custom.

She has taken out every stitch from the first LA'er. She even got her DH to help her rip stitches! Wow. I let her know that I'm not perfect, and she said she's not either, but she couldn't live with the first job that was done.

Question - would I be better off to turn the quilt to do the blue borders, or to change thread every row? I'm thinking turning would be better. What do you say?

thanks

[Charlene]

Hi,

I would secure the three borders with SID. You could use monofilament thread if needed. Then I would quilt the body of the quilt, turn the quilt to quilt the borders. That way you can get one long swoop of quilting with each color of thread. The design will be a continum pattern without all those starts and stops.

Charlene

[epprog]

Okay girls, I love all, and I mean all of your ideas so I can hardly wait to see it when it is done. Even without any quilting it is stunning. Just one short question: you all talk about turning the quilt to do the side borders. Whenever I have turned a quilt I take off the top and bottom zippers and then put on the zippers on the sides. Is that the way you do it or is there an easier way to do it that I am missing?

Cher

[Bekah]

I am asking with Cher, what is the easiest way to turn a quilt? it sacres me to death

[kennan100]

Fleur de lis design...in a Map of Texas quilt? Where does he live, Louisiana? The only place I can think of in Texas that a fleur de lis might fit is Galveston which had a New Orleans atmosphere in it's day and the influence is still very visible in the architecture around the island. Outside of that I just can't see it, no wonder she picked it out!! Your ideas sound like a great plan tho!