Help!!

That is lovely!

You know, I'd stitch in the ditch round those birds, and then echo it with lines out to the edges... I'd match the thread to the background to keep it discreet.

My suggestion would be to take a template of the birds, and blow up/ reduce it to different sizes, then quilt the rest of the flock in the spare spaces. This approach would integrate the scrappy quality with the formality of the blocks at the bottom.

Then the sides and overlapping out of the 'frame' harvesty wheat stalks to show the autumnal season. Maybe some fruits coming down from the top.

This makes it into an arty quilt, of course and probably not one to snuggle under, but I think it should be on a wall. It's so pretty.

And if you want to get rid, I'm sure I could give it a good home...

Good luck. BTDT, but you will get it done eventually, and whatever you do will be 'just right'. You'll see. Nel (Gadget Queen)

How about gentle arcs or gently wavy lines going from the top right corner to the lower edge of the top section (below the birds) and to the left-side border (above the birds). Those lines would represent the air being displaced by the flight of the birds (similar to the way water is displaced as a swan - or a boat! - glides through it.

To add interest, you could create the same types of lines around those little birds going off their own way on the left side of the quilt.

For the bottom section, you could stitch in the ditch around the birds, and then use swirls or meandering to make them pop.

Gonna have to have a temporary name change from Sunny to Cranky Pants. The quilting you've already picked out sounds perfect to me. Maybe, maybe you need to set it aside for a while. That quilt is wonderful. It sings and dances, and it deserves better than 'gitterdun'. Tsk. Polly

"Ghost birds" using the same type shapes of the birds you have alread there, seeming to migrate off the bottom rows into the blank space. Tesselate the same design into the rest of the top, even going over the birds there. Or, you could use those ghost birds and in between everything quilt attic window type pattern.

Whatever you do it will be gorgeous!

G>

I would do the top and bottom differently...with the bottom being more formal. On both parts you could highlight the birds with SITD as others have suggested. But on the bottom maybe echo quilting to keep the birds contained and on the upper part something flow-y to go with the birds being released. Plus some ghost birds. Good luck! Allison

I'd probably just stitch the whole thing in the ditch; I tend to suggest that to the construction mgr. any time we're at a loss. I know... it's not very imaginative - even ironic for me - but I never get tired of the "pillowy" effect it produces, and sometimes it can bring out something of a 3-D effect almost (but not exactly) like trapunto.

Doc

I actually can see exactly what I would do, now the thing is to figure out how to explain it....

SITD the birds that are flying off and the ones joining the line from their blocks, depending on the size of them I think I would do melons inside them, and a brief echo outside of them to keep the sense of motion going. You have seen "God's breath" in assorted graphics? For example humanized illustrations of the North Wind blowing a wind across the land, or a deity blowing a cloud across the sky, or in an old children's book of bible stories there was a picture of God blowing the storm at Jonah's ship. The wind or the breath always has similarities. Straight lines on a diagonal, sometimes radiating into a triangle, with the final lines having sort of cloud curls at the end. I would make the birds fly in a cloud of god's breath. Lines moving with the birds, smaller cloud curls near the beginning of the line, expanding in size and coverage as you progress up with the birds. At the bottom with the blocks of four birds, I would also do SITD and melons as for the flying birds, but I would connect them after the fashion of sashiko hemp leaves, and take the connecting lines into the beginning of the queue of flying birds.

If that made any sense at all let me know and I will treat myself to a lollipop.

NightMist

Thank you! (NM, go get your lollipop) All good suggestions that sound better when you folks say them t han when I think of things. I'm going to make some oversheets of various designs and sort of pounce them to see what looks best. Thanks for taking time to think about it. Yes, Polly, I'm Miz Crankypants right now LOL. Promise I'll change soon. For now, that's what we have to work with.

Hugs, Sunny

I'm generally in the "there's nothing new under the sun" school of thought, so when I "discover" something independently I figger there's usually *some* name for it someplace.

If THAT makes any sense.

Thanks for the hint.

Doc

This is exactly what I was going to suggest. For me, there's way too much white to blend with the colors..I'd like it if the birds were in the empty spaces, sort of redwork, but different colors of thread. Gen