Quilting Splotch Part Two

Even though my job is to quilt and finish other's projects, sometimes I am the worst at finishing my own. I can look at other's quilt tops and know exactly how it should be quilted...

Then I look at mine for months and I can't think of where to start. I guess it comes back to that saying - you are your own worst critic... It just depends on the quilt and the project, but I will guarantee my own quilts are much harder to plan than my clients most of the time. I just put too much pressure on myself sometimes.

 Some days I just need a reset or a refresh moment. Well, remember this quilt I shared yesterday? I loved how the chevron quilting turned out... And we chose this pattern to emphasize the elongated blocks...

 Then I was staring at my own Splotch Part Two... And it's kinda modern and it would be neat to emphasize the stripes in the background... And that's when the idea of quilting it with a chevron design hit my upside the head!

Now that would be all good and plenty, but us long armers have a tendency to over quilt our own stuff. That's why it takes forever to come up with a plan and execute it. It's so easy to go overboard with the quilting. The simple plan is the least taken sometimes...

 So then I started thinking about another option to show off the hexagons too. I just finished those dahlias recently on Bobette's quilt and I though they would look nice in the blocks. So then the plan shifted to dahlias in the hexagons and chevrons in the background...

But then I started thinking that plan was too much of a good thing. Maybe less is more or random is best? So I thought about taking a Sudoku approach to the dahlias and I will quilt them in like above picture. The Sudoku part comes in where there's only one dahlia per row and column...

Then what I'll do is fill in the rest of the quilt with chevrons up to the hexagons filled with dahlias. That way they will hopefully stand out a bit more and give that unexpected pop of excitement I'm hoping for.

All in all it should work out well and hit all the right notes I'm trying to achieve. This quilt is quickly becoming my favorite (at the moment until the next favorite comes along) and I hope to have it done and ready to show at Spring Market.

I always like providing options with my designs. I realize that the quilting community is a visual place. Sometimes it's hard for quilters to come up with their own ideas when they fall in love with a quilt. Usually they want to make that quilt with those fabrics just like the picture... However, I find when I show the same quilt a couple of different ways, quilters are more open to choosing their own fabrics and ideas and come up with some of the coolest things!

At least that is what I have noticed and it helps me to play with more fabric and work "outside the box" more.

So hopefully this is either being quilted or will be shortly and I will share the finished product when I can!

Do you like this plan? Is there something else you'd do that I haven't thought of? Voice your opinions in the comments below and we can brainstorm together! Who knows, this quilt is so fun I just may make another that would need to be quilted a different way. I made a whole new version of Aura from Seamingly Scrappy just so I could quilt it differently than my first two...

Just a reminder that Splotch is a new pattern of mine found in my new book, Seems Like Scrappy due out this June. You can preorder your copy in my shop and I will sign it for you!

Well, I'm off to sew! Have a great day!