Quilting Hollyhocks Around the Barn Quilt - Step One - Have a Plan

Hollyhocks Around the Barn

I finished this quilt top probably 10 years ago ...  and sandwiched it sometime since then.   All this time, I've been thinking about how best to quilt it.  I think I finally have a plan!

 

I like to use an app like Doodle Pro to draw on a photo of the quilt top.  This way, I can audition free motion quilting designs to figure out what might work best.   And it lets you undo your lines without damaging the real photo underneath. 

This gives me an idea of what to do with the leaves and the flowers, as well as the barn rails.   

Working up the designs on the app gives you a chance to learn the patterns and give you some muscle memory for wne it comes to drawing it own with the needle.  

That center rectangle of barn wood needs a different treatment, too ...  Back to the drawing board! 

And the egg and carton pattern will be lined up better on the real quilt.  Here's it's just sort of a placeholder. 

Here's a photo of the enter of one of the hollyhocks growing in my garden one summer.  

I would like to work in that star pattern somehow ...  Real hollyhocks have 5 petals.  The flowers on the quilt only have 4 ...  Can I put a star at the center of each flower?  How is that going to work?

I'm just thinking out loud now ...  Still lots to work out, but I'm getting closer to being able to sew!