A friend made this fantastic New York Beauty. She used a foundation fabric for this heirloom and I think If I ever get the nerve to try to piece this pattern I’ll do that as well. It looks like it helped keep all those bias edges tamed.

I have been working up some different designs for her to choose from as she wants this top custom quilted.

I drew on the photos of her top to audition some designs. This one uses a petal flower in the center with curls coming out to the tips. I put a spiky scimitar contemporary feather that works nicely with the spikes from the block.

This version shows an echoed curve that fills in the background so the circles can float. I put a center filler in the NY Beauty that combines a fleur de lis shape with some ribbon candy. I used loops in the spikes. Anytime you can juxtapose a curvey shape with strong lines it adds great visual interest.

.

Here I used more traditional feather shapes in the background

This time I added those traditional feather shapes behind the spikes. I’m not sure she will like the density of this one, however. It would be very, very dense.