Testing Truck Quilt Background Quilting

The other day I started working on testing out the quilting for the "Truck Quilt". Today I completed my test and feel really good about what I quilted. I'll start with the "Truck Quilt" as it is at this moment. As you may remember from previous posts, this precious truck is from a picture of my fraternal grandfather's truck, we called my grandfather "Foxey" because his favorite cartoon when he was growing up was "Grandpa Foxey". Anyway, the truck was a 1956 Ford, and he drove it around the pasture and from the house to his fishing tanks. I think all but one of us 7 grandkids learned how to drive in this truck, so you see, it's special. But I just had to put a twist on the "Truck Quilt" and make it my own. It's turquoise instead of baby blue and I added long horns to the front (with several Univ. of TX Longhorns in the family, I felt it was appropriate, plus I'm a true cowgirl at heart).



Now for the quilt testing. With the hand dyed background being so intense, it needed to be knocked down a bit so the truck can stand out. So I decided the background was going to be quilted so I could paint the background white to tone it down. Now Foxey had a barn, several infact, and a windmill on the property. So I decided to quilt in a barn and a windmill behind the truck along with the clouds.

Now the bright fabric you see at the bottom left, well I left that bright because that is where the truck will be in front of the barn.



This next picture gives you a little closer look at the barn detail and how it lays with where the it will be with the truck.



The following picture is a close up on the windmill and the different cloud designs I quilted today. I usually do the swirlly clouds, but I tried the horizontal horizon lines and then also following the movement of the fabric. The movement of the fabric just isn't tight enough and I really think the swirlly clouds are too busy. The horizontal horizon lines help push the background back and help the truck pop.



Okay, couldn't resist. Had to cut out the bright area and pin it up on the wall with the truck quilt. WOW! I love the results! The white paint really tones down the background. The windmill is going to be over to the left above the bed of the truck.



This week I've got a fairly clean slate, so Lord willing, this baby will be quilted and thread painted this week. Yes, I still have to do the thread painting on the truck. Okay, feedback please!!!!!