Friday, July 01, 2011

Baskets in the Making

I have this customer quilt that is on the frame at present. It's getting a lot of the stand and stare treatment. I have SID'd all the baskets with Monolon and done the stitching on the red outer border. But what to do ON the baskets themselves is somewhat of a mystery still. The client gathered these fabrics on her many trips to Hawaii over the years.
So...I have moved on to the background, or eye-blinding part of the quilting. The fabrics have a small print on them making the quilting nearly impossible to see unless you use a contrasting color, which I am not. The larger baskets are getting stuffed with ferns and flowers. Nothing for the small ones. I've settled on 3 fillers - feathers on the mostly white background, and swirls and double large pebbles for the others. The blocks are just too close to do any framing or separation.


What would you do on the baskets? Oh, and there are at least 75 of them before you answer that too quickly.


Is it ok to leave it pouffy for the most part?


Lastly-

I need to appologize to many. I have tried so many times to leave comments about lovely quilting and sometimes Blogger lets me and sometimes it asks for me to login and then keeps asking me to login, as if I gave it the wrong password (which obviously I know is right since I post several times a week!!). So, keep posting the pretty quilts. Love all the amazing Aussie show quilts too-








10 comments:

Elaine said...

I think it's okay to leave it pouffy. You want the fabric to stand out on the baskets, not the quilting. Your quilting is great on the background. A good idea putting flowers in the baskets.

Colleen said...

The basket quilt is stunning, love the bias stripe for the handles! I think I would outline quilt the beautiful florals to accentuate the patterns. Have fun your quilting is superb!!!
Colleen

quilter501 said...

I love that basket quilt. I think I would thread paint (very lightly) a flower or two in each basket....outline it, stem it, etc. and leave the rest puffy. Accentuate what is already there to add a 3-D effect. What you have already done is gorgeous.

merrily row said...

Lovely work so far.

As for the baskets themselves, the prints on most seem to be quite large. How about outline stiching the big flower/leaves on the basket to give it a trapunto look?

Kristie said...

Very beautiful quilting in the background. I think they look nice pouffy or maybe something like a loose basket weave.
Kristie

Lynette said...

I love what you've done on the black basket. Why not do similar treatments on the rest? A little something at the top with floral outlining that follows the fabric...

Teresa Silva said...

I love what you are doing with the feathering in the baskets. It makes them kind of pop out. Love it! I had the same problem leaving comments and I had to go into tools/internet options / privacy / sites/ then add blogger.com. I am now able to leave comments with no problems.

floribunda said...

I was going to say exactly what quilter501 said -- although I also think it might look good to leave the baskets unquilted. They must be pretty small if there are 75 of them!

(OMG -- my word verification is "sucked"!)

QuilterBee said...

ahhhh, eye candy!! Such a gorgeous quilt, everything!! Pattern fabrics, quilting...perfect :o) Amie

Tami @ Lemon Tree Tales said...

I'm echoing a lot of the comments by saying yes, a bit puffy is great for the baskets. Since they're all hawaiian prints - how about quilting one of the leaves from the border in each basket? or a simple hibiscus?