Show Quilt?

Last May I took a class with Irena Bluhm at MQS on wholecloth design. Now I've been creating wholecloth quilts for several years now, but it's always good to get someone elses take on wholecloth. You can always pick up some tips and tricks that you didn't know before. This class was no exception. Irena was teaching us not only wholecloth design, but also how to incorporate applique into a whole cloth quilt. She even had a short segment on coloring with colored pencil. I had taken that class the year before and was familiar with the technique.

The quilt above is what I designed in Irena's class. Over the past few weeks I finished hand appliqueing the circles. Yesterday I started the quilting. I'm using 2 layers of batting and Glide thread in gold.

Here you can see a bit more detail. These are Irena's feather patterns.

Here is an typical example of my quilting design process - the design changes as I quilt :o.  The feathers in the center were my first choice, but I decided that the outer circle of feathers were enough feathers for the center. So I decided to see how concentric circles would look around the applique. I decided I didn't like that after marking with the blue pen.

The star design that the feathers made was begging to be brought out, so I obliged. It's very confusing looking right now, but it will make more sense once the blue marks are washed out.

The feathers and ribbon on the top purple circle will not be quilted in. I decided after marking that one circle that it wasn't going to be the right design here.

Several design decisions need to be made on the quilt, but they will come as I continue to work on it. This quilt may or may not be entered for show. I'll make that decision once the quilt is completely done.