Grey Cat Quilts

As Fun with Free Piecing comes closer to a completed quilt top (far faster than I would have thought possible!), I found myself considering how to quilt it. My original idea, was to do off-set straight line quilting:

This particular idea was scrapped very early in the drawing stage, as you can see, though I saved it for reference. I didn’t like the idea of quilting through all of the seams in the free-pieced sections. Early on in the process, I decided, though that I wanted to use multiple colors of thread, to stand out against the gray.

Here, I forgot to change the thickness of the lines I was drawing, which might have had something to do with my dismissal of this particular quilting plan. I initially thought that the  random straight lines could be fun, especially if done in multiple colors of thread. I rather liked the idea of echoing the free-piecing in the quilting. Then I drew it out, rather than test it on the sandwich itself. No love here.

Finally, I thought to try echoing the rectangle shape, creating a brick and mortar illusion, thanks to a co-worker’s suggestion. Again, I went with multiple colors of thread, because I was still loving that idea. This, I think is a winner!

I love the depth this gives the design. Having said this, I think I’m going to change the quilting in the outer gray border and in the two long horizontal segments that currently show straight line quilting. I might do those in shorter quilting lines that are perpendicular to their alignment, or the idea of an echoed zig-zag in those areas appeals too.

I’m going to add a page to this blog, dedicated to contrasting the digital design to the physical quilt that comes out of the process. It’ll be picture heavy, but I think it’ll be a lot of fun. Plus, it’ll be a more condensed way of showing some of my process, when my process actually involves planning to this degree. Of course, this page won’t go up until such time as I actually COMPLETE a quilt, down to the binding, from a digital design.

EDIT: Anyone want a tutorial for this quilt? I’m debating writing one up.