light at tunnels end help me quilt there

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In my profile are photos,(not real great) of a quilt top I have been working on for my very best friends 50th birthday. She will be 60 on Tuesday. :-D Needless to say I'm in a hurry now to finish it. You can see more detail of the shells on the gate in the next picture. I am at a loss how to quilt it. I thought about using the shell pattern somewhere but not sure if that's overkill. I also can't decide what to use for a back. I sure would like some HELP!!! Thank y'all so much :-D Charlotte

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Charlotte, that is a nice silhouette quilt. I think I'd do a landscape meander in the background area... it's like regular meander but the curves go more horizontal as they swirl around. Almost like wood grain.

As for the backing, I"d go with a colorful print in the colors of the quilt. Not solid black. Maybe a beachy fabric or seashells if you can find it. But at least those colors.

HTH!

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Michelle, I'd been thinking about trying to find the colors of the quilt to use in the backing but hadn't thought about one with shells. I'll have to give that a look. I'm not sure I totally understand what you mean by the landscape meander. Maybe you know a web site that I might look at or you have on you have done in you profile? I'm a little dense when I don't see a picture. Remember too, I'm quilting by hand not machine. I really do appreciate the ideas though. Charlotte

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Michelle, I just went to your website and looked at your quilts, (which you don't have in your profile, come on girl). You do out or sight work! I loved them all!!! You much be very proud. I didn't read the bio to see how long you've been doing it but you certainly are doing the best to me. Charlotte

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I am so glad you enjoyed the pictures of quilts in my gallery. I have been longarming for almost 9 years, and quilting for over 25. I will admit though, that I cannot hand quilt at all!! So I am always impressed by those that can and do!!

Here's a picture that shows the kind of meandering that I call 'landscape meandering'. I think you could do it with hand quilting, esp if you used a chalk pencil (like the Bohin white pencil) to mark the design. You can do it as dense or open as you'd like. It gives a great texture which I think would look nice the background areas to enhance the sense of landscape. But perhaps a diagonal crosshatch would look really nice too, and I know hand quilters can do that.

HTH!

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Oh another thought for the backing... Have you heard of Stonehenge Fabrics? They have beautiful mottled colors that almost look like granite. They come in a great variety of colors and styles. I bet you could find some that have those beachy colors in them. I am not sure how easy they are to needle by hand, but ask for them and/or beachy fabrics at your LQS and take a look.

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Michelle! You soud like some one I know who has the nick name of " The Idea Lady" Great ideas :lol:

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Charlotte, the quilt is lovely. But that's a lot of quilting to have to do by hand before next tuesday :shock: Would you consider doing what Michelle has suggested on your sewing machine? Then you could definitely get it done in time for the birthday next week.