It’s all put together. Not my best work, but I still quite like it and quilting will fix the minor imperfections. Right?
What now?
I am still eying the sparkly blue thread I bought with great anticipation because I think it’s going to look terrific against the other colours in the quilt. But I have no idea how to actually quilt it. I’m inclined not to do anything special on the borders due to those minor imperfections I mentioned earlier, in particular a small amount of waviness, so I expect to go edge to edge. I won’t be using free motion quilting either, because I don’t know how to do that and I don’t have the time or inclination to learn just at the moment.
Any suggestions? The top measures 29 by 29 inches by the way.
Update: Thanks to everyone who made suggestions. I enjoyed reading your comments. Here’s how the quilt ended up.
A Journey with Fibre 
I really like this quilt top, the name is perfect – I’m assuming that it was inspired by Van Gogh? I also think that the thread sounds lovely. I must admit, I quilt by hand and my usual technique is to quilt around the shapes in my blocks a quarter of an inch from the seams … I know it’s not a very original idea, but I though I would share it with you in case you wanted to do something simple. I’ll be interested in hearing (and seeing) what you choose to do.
Thanks for the excellent suggestion. I had originally thought about echo quilting by machine around each star as you suggested and thought that would look good, but all that starting and stopping is a pain and it still leaves the border quilting as a separate design problem.
I try not to hand quilt because it’s so slow and needs good light and I want to finish. I admire hand quilters greatly for having the patience and dedication that I lack.
At 29 by 29 I’d hand quilt it, outlining the stars inside and out, and then maybe outlining the blocks, and then the border. But then I hand quilt everything, so take my suggestion with a large grain of salt! It really might not take you that long to do. And I have a puckery top I’m working on that’s coming out well with hand quilting.
Laura, I take my hat off to you. 29 by 29 seems absolutely massive to me when I consider hand quilting. Inside and out is a really nice idea that builds on what Kim just suggested.
I tend to agree with Kim. I believe an all over quilting pattern would distract from the stars. The sparkly blue thread would be great for the quilting.
Oh dear, it’s beginning to look like I’m outvoted, and by experts, too. Will I take all of your excellent input or will I forge my own path? I’m going to keep pondering while I get the backing ready. Thanks so much for commenting. It really helps to hear what others have to say.
Something a bit special would help draw in the waves in the borders.
Love that idea! Thanks.
Thanks for your comment on my blog – I guess my brother and I are just too darn sensible!
Love the blue intensity of your quilt – I would all over meander it to make it shine as one wonderful fabric, and the thread you describe could then sing a song of its own in harmony rather than as a backing group! Doing something different in the border would frame it beautifully – I adore negative space quilting so I would probably tight meander around echoed-but-smaller star shapes!
That’s my fourpennyworth!!
Oh good – a vote for something other than hand quilting, just to add interest. Meandering is a free motion technique isn’t it? I don’t know how to do free motion quilting and I don’t expect to learn how anytime soon as I have too many other projects to occupy my time.
I’ve also been thinking along the lines of ‘something different in the border.’
I appreciate you sharing your ideas. Thank you.
Another hand quilting vote here! A couple of evenings in front of the television and you’ll be done! Hand quilting really does move quickly! The sparkly thread might be more frustration than hand quilting worthy, though…
Thanks so much for adding your vote. I’m loving all the input – it has really got me thinking. I think I need to use the sparkly thread to unify the overall design. Besides it’s so pretty.
Just to throw a proverbial cat among the pigeons… I am by no means an expert quilter but found a loose all over stipple was really a lot easier than I expected. I just practiced on a cushion sized square first so that I could get the rhythm right. I think it could look lovely with the sparkly thread. Good luck with whatever you decide!
Cats among the pigeons are more than welcome. I did some reading this morning in a book called Guide to Machine Quilting by Diane Gaudynski and I convinced myself that I can’t learn to stipple quickly. If you say it was easier than expected, I’ll have to give it a try some time soon.
I haven’t ever tried machine quilting. Most of my hand quilting has been tracing the design, so I’m not the expert. I don’t see how you could go wrong either way, and I vote for the sparkly thread. That sounds awesome. I didn’t notice the defects in the quilt, but remember the humble square idea. All quilts need them! :)
Yeah, no shortage of mistakes in my quilts and I don’t even need to do it deliberately :-)
hahahaha me too!