Quilting Design Choices

I think I've said it here before, but in case not...I admit that my least favorite part about making a quilt is the actual quilting.  

Much of it is the process of trying to figure out how I want to quilt the project. I get stuck thinking that I want to do a custom quilting job even though the quilt is meant to be used and will not be a show piece by any means. I then have a reality check moment and admit that not only do I not have the patience or time to do that, I don't have the skills. 

I also struggle with choosing what thread to use. It's really not so much what thread, but what color thread. I am always tempted to try to match the thread color to the fabric so I can hide my lack of quilting skill. But let's be honest, most of the quilts I make have a lot of different fabrics and colors in them so that is not a realistic thing to do. Can you imagine how many thread changes would be needed, let along the thread stash that I would need to do that? 

On a side note...here's a fun picture from many years ago. Quinn and Sadie used to love playing with my thread. I let them do it and called it my version of thread play.  LOL

Back to my decision making...

I ponder my quilting options for a while and then ask Jack for his opinion. Jack thinks I have much more skill than I actually do and he usually has ideas of custom quilting too. He has some really awesome ideas, but they are simply not realistic for me. He steps back and thinks for a while and often comes up with his thread color choice first. He then moves on to the actual quilting design. Isn't if funny how we all have our processes and how different they can be from that of other people?

So...long story short (Too late, I know!), the top often gets pushed aside for a while and another project gets started. That is just one of the reasons I have so many UFOs. My quilting indecision is a problem that has many ramifications.  

I'm trying to make a concerted effort to make faster quilting decisions and finish some of my UFO backlog. The other night, I realize that if I get more tops quilted, I can do some binding, which I enjoy. LOL  Ahhhh, If only it was that easy.

Fast forward to Saturday morning when I was driving to a softball game. I noticed a farmer had planted a new crop recently and I thought that the rows looked cool. I was driving, so I couldn't take a picture, but it got me thinking. I have often seen fields that were planted with interesting designs. The reason for the designs was to accommodate various equipment used, the landscape, and possible obstructions in the field, like trees. Why can't I transfer that into quilting designs?

When I returned home, I did a quick internet search and came up with the following images. 

Even though I know the rows are equally spaced, the plant color makes it look like they aren't. I like that look!

I really like this image below. I think it would be fun to quilt "a river" on the quilt and then quilt vertical lines coming up to it. I even like the white that shows here and might be tempted to make that thread color change so it really stands out on the quilt. 

I really find the image below fun! I like the spacing of the straight line quilting here. I also like the idea of adding some kind of circular design on top of that. Heck...I might even be tempted to make the circular design an applique. 

Time will tell if I put any of these images to use in my quilting, but at least I am thinking and feel a willingness to try something new. 

How do you choose your quilting designs?