Cityscape is a printed quilt top available from my online shop.

Tools I used for Cityscape

Cityscape has a lot of straight lines that will be great to use with a walking foot on your domestic sewing machine, so don’t think this is only a longarm thing.  A walking foot will help you stay straight, so you won’t need all the rulers that I suggest!

So, here’s what I used to quilt my Cityscape panel:

• Sid from Creative Grids
• Shelly also from Creative Grids
• Big Cheese from Handiquilter
• Versa tool from Handiquilter
• Elvira from Creative Grids

I also used some marking tools like a water soluble pen and some chalk to help start off on a straight line for the hillside half circles.

Multiple colours on Cityscape

To quilt Cityscape I used multiple thread colours.  Every change is a few minutes that you can save if you do one colour at a time, so first green on the entire quilt, then purple and so on.  This works most effectively if you use the lighter colours first, so that the darker thread can cover any tracks you make to get from one point of the object to the other (I did do jumps, but I don’t recommend it, it makes the quilt a bit untidy).

Foreground and background

Some of the buildings on Cityscape are in front of the others.  When you stitch in the ditch, consider whether you’re going to stitch all around each building, in which case you should stay with lighter colours first before darker.

If, however, you choose to stitch in the ditch for the back buildings first, and then the front, you will have a neater, less overstitched object.  The counter issue to this is still your paths, so end off neatly rather than jumping.

Lines, curves and character build Cityscape

To find your inspiration you need to put yourself in this city.  Is it a small town?  What time of the year is it?  Christmas, Halloween, Easter?  Each of these questions and answers will help guide you to where you’re going with your quilting.

Christmas opens the door for bling, decorations and some couching.  Easter points to some easter eggs, add some buttons or quilt a bunny in the meadow.  Halloween, well, spider webs again using quilting and add a few pumpkins, or even a witch hanging around in the sky.  There are really so many ways that this quilt can go.  Coming to think of it I stayed pretty conservative!

Maybe I should do another one?  Hmmm…..