To refresh your memory, this is the final quilt top from Lily’s bandanas, which were apparently her favorite accessory, next to her people, of course. Lily, was a lovely golden retriever who resided with her family on the coast of New England. I worked this quilt top up a little differently from the other three. First, I wanted some negative space to really play with some custom quilting. Second, I varied the size of the block to break up any monotony. But then, the pieced top just looked too square. It was probably just the mood I was in at the time. It just looked too…expected. So I slashed down one slide, which gives it a slight baroque effect. B. was a bit horrified when I told him what I was going to do. Now he says it is different, he likes it OK, but he doesn’t know what the experts would think. I’ve never been one for necessarily following experts, unless they agree with my gut. However, I would like the owner to like it.
My issue is that now that it is finished, I’m not sure I want to custom quilt it after all. I don’t want too much noise on and about the colorful squares and rectangles. On the other hand the negative space, the three black squares and my black sliced area, does call out for some attention, I think. And on someone else’s hand, a pantograph might look really pretty. So how do I decide what to do? Here’s the top:
Keep in mind, that this is on a hill, slanting in two different directions, but it is the flatest area in the yard. I can assure you the top has been squared.
Any ideas on pantograph versus edge to edge versus all custom? What would you do? Would you have kept the quilt top square or do you like my slice off of one edge?
And, my gosh, aren’t there a lot of weeds in my lawn?
Quiltify 
I just looked up pantograph and edge-to-edge quilting (which, in my brief foray into quilting You Tube videos, seem to be the same thing or similar. When you say custom, can you do that on Millie? Would you hand-quilt? This seems to be definitely one of those situations where you are worried about overdoing it…it’s very colorful, but I think pantograph would work well, as long as the pattern is not too overly busy. It was fascinating to me to see those videos….looks like fun!
I like the ‘slashed’ area; if it were me, (and remember I love loud rock concerts and also breaking the rules), I would have slashed another corner, not parallel, not matching, but maybe the upper left corner…..(-: to give it a little rock vibe. However, I like this look. I am amazed at how fast you seem to do these….but I also ‘get’ your concern about making the top way too busy…
And your lawn looks fine….besides, you can’t quilt AND weed, can you?
Ha! I’ll keep you in mind the next time I’m slashing. I agree, I would not have picked a parallel corner either if I had slashed again. Yes, custom quilting or free motion edge to edge is originally why I got Millie, but I have found I enjoy the pantographs also, for different reasons.
I seem to be having a hard time getting to a lot of chores these days. 🙂
I’ll be home soon to do chores while you quilt 😉
🙂
Really? WHen? I can let you know when EC will be here!
fingers crossed…in the fall.