I made a practice quilt

Have you ever made a 'practice' quilt? i got in a customer quilt that had an unbalanced setting and drawing it out to decide how to quilt it didn't work for me this time. so i decided to make a practice quilt just like it. it was just baby size so i figured it wouldn't take long. i got a piece of fabric and drew in the blocks and borders that she had...trying to be kind of accurate as far as size but i didn't worry too much about it.

I finished quilting it up last night and ran it through the washer to get out the marks i made. my first thought was to put a design in each block and crosshatch all the background. but i realized i would have to actually draw the crosshatch onto the quilt before i loaded it and i really didn't want to do that.

So i played with my practice quilt and figured it all out. here is how it turned out.....the good, the bad and the ugly.

It's just a pink floral fabric so it's a bit hard to see all the designs on the front. I got the bottom corner crosshatched and decided it needed to be smaller and contained in just that corner.

I tried different designs in the 12 log cabin blocks with the Quiltazoid to see which i liked best...these blocks are 8".  she wanted dense quilting so i wanted to fill the blocks as much as possible. i tried 3 different designs. i put freehand spirals in the space between the blocks and then decided that wouldn't work...too busy. so i will put straight lines there...like diamonds...2 or 3..about an inch apart ...with the smallest in the center till i fill the space up to the circular designs.

On the side and on the bottom are three 6 inch blocks. so i tried more circular designs there till i found one that worked well. i tried a different background design but didn't like it.

So then i decided to put radiating lines around them going out from the center....much better.

Here are a couple shots of the back that shows up better. i used a piece of felt for the back that i got at a yard sale somewhere. it quilted up fine and shows the stitches well but not sure how it will hold up in every day use.

So, for me, making a practice quilt really helped to decide how to quilt it. it's the first time i have done this. i have the real one on the frame now and have gotten the SID all done today plus the crosshatch in that bottom corner. still haven't decided if i should leave the feathers in the border or do something else but i have a couple days before i get there.

Sometimes you gotta step out of that box!