Quilting Inspiration #1

I have named this post Quilting Inspiration #1 because this is a subject I would like to explore in great length.  I am frequently asked how I come up with ideas to quilt a quilt.  Often my ideas come from the fabric within the quilt.

I recently quilted the purple quilt that was posted as one of the jelly roll race quilts.  I was told to quilt it however I wanted to.  So for inspiration I looked at one of the fabrics within the quilt.

This funky flower is repeated in several fabrics within the quilt.  Since the quilt has a random placement of pieces, I felt that an overall pattern would suit the quilt.  Usually I stop for borders but since the border was fairly small, I decided to quilt right over it.  I played with drawing the flower until I came up with this design.  I will show how I quilted the continuous design beginning with a loop in the centre, and then petals around.

Next I finished the petals and then placed another line of quilting within the petals to add a little depth to the quilting.

When the petals were finished I went into the circle in the centre and quilted some smaller circles.

I randomly placed the smaller circles.

After completion of the flower I quilted outlining to fill in the space between the flowers.

The thread I used was a signature 40 wt turquoise.  I decided that the quilt was purple enough!  Those of you that know me might find that statement a little funny.

The flowers were between 6" and8".  This was big enough that I could do the outlining between flowers without over quilting.

I was pleased with the final result.  What do you think?