A long, long hand quilting project

I normally set aside one project to work on Thursday mornings when my sewing circle meets, usually a UFO. Sometimes the project chosen takes only one or two morning sessions to complete. Others take longer. And even others take forever.

Such is the case of of my current – and oldest – UFO, a Lone Star quilt. I completed the quilt top in early 2004, hoping to finish it in time for my very first quilt exhibition. I didn’t make it, so set it aside. Then I started teaching, and designing, and… and… 🙂 I knew I wanted to hand quilt this project, and also knew it would take time.

Since then my tastes have changed. Yikes! I really did go through a blue period, didn’t I? When I finally pulled this top out and prepared it for quilting, I found I wasn’t as fond of it as I had originally been. But I was committed to finishing it. And so over the past few couple of months of working diligently most Thursday mornings I have finally finished hand quilting the star. And I’m still not excited about this quilt. 🙁

All that dark blue is getting to me! Initially I had thought of quilting the corner squares and triangles with a rather complex and hopefully interesting quilting design. But I’m afraid I’m going to hate it if I don’t do something to liven it up. So I have decided to simply quilt those sections with a grid, and then applique a design (probably floral) onto each one. So now I’m playing with possible fabric choices.

Initially I was thinking something in the pink/rose family might do the trick…

But then I started to play around with orange fabrics, and started to like that more.

That’s as far as I’ve gotten. No other combinations seem to liven it enough for me. What do you think? Any other suggestions?

This entry was posted in Bed quilts, Hand Quilting. |Comments closed

4 Comments

  1. Irene Pratdesaba
    Posted April 2, 2012 at 4:43 pm | Permalink

    I like pink/rose fabrics more than oranges. Pinks give a good contrast on the blue background, without catching the eye as much as oranges. And you don’t want the flowers stand out more than the star, do you?
    Love, Irene

  2. Diane
    Posted April 7, 2012 at 11:22 pm | Permalink

    Why don’t you just try some large quilt design in a star format instead of some tacky flowers. Bringing in some other colors is going to take away the beauty of your color scheme
    Even doing some quilting with your neutral colors or a variegated blue might be nice
    Just some other ideas

  3. Posted April 14, 2012 at 12:14 am | Permalink

    Beautiful. Wonderful use of fabrics and colors in this traditional design, which you made your own. Love it!

    SewCalGal
    http://www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

  4. Posted April 19, 2012 at 12:52 pm | Permalink

    Angie,

    That’s a spectacular quilt. I love love love blues, so, if you ever feel like you don’t like that quilt anymore, I am more than happy to be your quilt’s new home… I am just sayin’

    Happy Quilting.