I'd quilt the border, definitely. Part of the great visual interest of this piece is that illusion of seeing the chambered nautilus on the sandy bottom as the viewer is looking *through* the water. My first thought about that was that I'd use a thread in the same color family as the sand, so the stitches aren't obvious, but then I thought a bit more and thought, "Perhaps they should be. The bottom, near the shore, ripples because of the action of the water, even if there aren't waves or distinct surf." And then I thought, "What if some of those stitches in the border were in "water" hues, blue and aqua and cerulean and turquoise and teal?"
My inclination would be to continue the ripples and spirals, but my initial impulse would be to make those less dense than the body of the quilt...perhaps sort of fading out the stitching by making it less densely applied, in that way photographic or artistic vignettes are done, you know?
Not that you haven't done a fabulously successful job with your fabric color placement as well as with the piecing!
Any road, those are my two cents' worth. If your hands can take it, then I say go for it and show off your fine stitching with your quilting!
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branchandroot
Quilting Water Ripples
Date: 25 Feb 2011 10:23 pm (UTC)My first thought about that was that I'd use a thread in the same color family as the sand, so the stitches aren't obvious, but then I thought a bit more and thought, "Perhaps they should be. The bottom, near the shore, ripples because of the action of the water, even if there aren't waves or distinct surf."
And then I thought, "What if some of those stitches in the border were in "water" hues, blue and aqua and cerulean and turquoise and teal?"
My inclination would be to continue the ripples and spirals, but my initial impulse would be to make those less dense than the body of the quilt...perhaps sort of fading out the stitching by making it less densely applied, in that way photographic or artistic vignettes are done, you know?
Not that you haven't done a fabulously successful job with your fabric color placement as well as with the piecing!
Any road, those are my two cents' worth. If your hands can take it, then I say go for it and show off your fine stitching with your quilting!