Mousie

beautiful!

BETTY62

I think hearts in the corners would be awesome. I love the fabrics you selected and your work is beautiful.

quilterpurpledog

Your wall quilt is very pretty. I like your combination of machine quilting and hand quilting. Your hand quilting is just beautiful and adds so much to your project. I think I would use the hearts in the corners because I like the rounded look of the hand quilting elements.

Doggramma

How pretty! Your hand quilting is beautiful...so evenly done

Ellen 1

I have edited your question to the part I want to address.

Yes, you need to do more quilting. The quilting is what holds the shape of your quilt over time. It also adds to the “finished” look. Never be afraid to add more quilting. When you think you are done, then add more quilting! I believe there is no such thing as “too much quilting”, however there is definitely such a thing as “not enough quilting”.

As this piece is now, it definitely looks “unfinished”. Your hand quilting is lovely!!! You could quilt more in the yellow area, the dark part of the flying geese and of course the corners and the entire piece would really look great!!

I hope I do not miss it when you repost your quilt after it is finished!!

I forgot to say, the white thread in the crosshatching looks just fine. :-)

carolynjo

While I generally agree with your comments, I do have to say that the trend of "quilting every thing to death" is not my favorite. I do enjoy being able to see the quilting/design. I am not a fan of overquilting.

Macybaby

I'd put hearts in the corners, but angle them so the point of the heart is towards the center for all the blocks (so each one is rotated).

I'd consider either doing a row of echo quilting in the yellow, or doing a reverse arch that touches the outside and arches towards the inside. Either with the arch centers touching, or possibly staggering it so the curve of the outer row fit into the dip of the inner row. If I did the echo and hearts in the corner, I'd do a smaller heart in the corners of the yellow. I'd bring the echo to the inner point and then form the heart.

I don't think I'd add any quilting to the flying geese, I like them just the way you have them.

Ellen 1

Carolynjo, I would like to add, a quilt does not have to be “quilted to death”, however the amount of quilting needs to be consistent. Many people quilt more in one area, often leaving it unquilted, or do not quilt enough in other areas to balance the quilting. Thanks for your comment. Ellen

laurac

It looks great. You’ve got a good eye so trust it!

OleaBlossom

Wow, thank you so much for the compliments! And especially for the advice, I really appreciate all the suggestions.

I loved your idea, Macybaby, with four angled hearts, but because the contrast between my thread and the fabric is very high on the pink and low on the blue, I went with two hearts and two stars. (I should have made a template for the hearts instead of eyeballing it, I definitely need to redo those.)

Annette, thank you for the teardrop suggestion, I think it really connects the border better to the centre and the flying geese (who are much more supported now with the stitching in the ditch there).

And Ellen, thank you for the push to add more quilting! I don't want my quilts to be too stiff, but I guess I should err on the side of too much for a while - it definitely looks better with what I added, and maybe could even use a little echoing on the hand quilting, as Macybaby suggested.

I used to do embroidery, so the hand stitching is somehow less scary than the machine quilting, but it sure is more labour-intensive. This wall hanging is just under 30" square ... I'm not sure I could do a whole bed quilt. The embroidery floss doesn't glide quite as easily through three layers

Again, thank you to everyone for the help and boost in confidence!

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