I also have to confess that this is my least favorite step of the whole quilting process.
I start thinking about how I am going to quilt a piece as soon as I start sewing the fabrics together. Some decisions are obvious and easy, others are more of a problem.
First, while I try and match the colors of quilting threads (or choose a contrasting color for effect), my color choices are rarely that critical in the final result. My fabrics are so highly patterned that usually the thread color is not that apparent. So I have learned to relax and not worry too much about thread colors.I also do not try to mark my fabrics as it will just be a line that I will not be able to follow and I do not want that pressure of concentrating on sewing an exact line. I much prefer picking a general area to cover or using the edge of my embroidery foot as a guide to make further parallel lines as shown in the photos here.
With the subject of birds in flight I wanted to use flowing lines. And since the birds themselves are fairly small, I wanted to leave them unquilted so they would "pop" from the surface of the finished quilt. So I have decided on choosing various areas of the background to heavily (for me) quilt groupings of parallel lines.
