Marking A Quilt For Quilting On The Frame

 Another little cutie has been found hiding in the UFO quilt top stash.  This one is only a little over a year old.  Dresden quilts are my favorite.  I've made so many that I've lost count how many.  Hiding somewhere my stash of UFO's is three more needing to be finished into quilt tops.  Maybe I can work on those later in the year.

Measuring 37x37 and having a lot of white space for quilting makes it perfect for quilting it to death.  You all know I struggle with quilting.  But coming up with a quilting plan for this one was a bit easier than most quilts.  A feather wreath around each dresden was my first and final plan.  Now it's time to mark the quilt so the quilting will be the same in every block.

I was like Goldilocks looking for the perfect kitchen item suit my needs.  Many plates, bowls and saucers were auditioned and failed.  And then a cake pan was just the right size for making the spine of the feathers.  The patchwork was used to help center the cake pan.

To test my quilted feather wreath idea, I used a piece of plexiglass and a dry erase marker.  I can quilt better than I can draw but it gives me a good idea of how this design will look on the quilt.  I love it!

Then it was time to decide what would go in the blank border blocks.  My first thought was a simple crosshatching, but it just wasn't right for this little quilt, well in MY mind it wasn't.  After doing the quilt stare for a while it occurred to me that doing the same feathered wreath design would be best.  The cake pan was carefully placed and traced (red arrow), using the patchwork seams as my guide for placement.  Then Goldilocks headed back to the kitchen to find the perfect circle for marking the ghost dresden.  This will give me place for the feather to stop and look just like the feathers around the dresden blocks.

After marking the circle/arc, the feather wreath plexiglass was auditioned...Perfect!  I considered drawing a dresden for quilting under the feathers, but that was more work than I was willing to do.  Maybe the two little hearts in this area would be cute.  In the end one little heart was added because it was easier than the other two ideas.   Now to let Goldilocks decide whether or not to add a background fill, and if so, what background fill.  

The same design was marked at each corner of the quilt, but I can't decide if I want a heart in the corners or just a background fill.  I guess Goldilocks has some things to think about today while I'm quilting.

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