A Little Hand Quilting

Been doing a little hand quilting in the evenings when I don't have anything better to do.  I have to admit, for a few nights a brand new 'Mary Balogh' book won out over quilting.:)  I decided to use a very dark brown quilting thread from Gutermann on this quilt, which just so happens to be one of my very favorite thread colors.  I use it a lot.  I'm not sure I made the best choice though, because it's not showing up like I hoped it would.  The brown usually pops really well with these particular colors.  Then again, this is a very busy quilt with lots going on with the different colors and prints.  Sometimes it's extremely difficult for me to decide on the appropriate color of thread and/or the quilting pattern.  In one of Gwen Marston & Joe Cunningham's books, they recommend that the busier a quilt is, the more simple the quilting design needs to be, otherwise your work basically gets lost and unappreciated.  I'm assuming it's the same way with the color of thread.  If this quilt was going to be heavily quilted on a long arm machine, the color of thread would make a huge difference, but hand quilting tends to sink into the batting and have a more subtle look and texture.  Which is what I like.  I'll just keep telling myself that.  That's what I like.  I do.  I do.  I do.:)  Oh well, sometimes it requires a lot of the hand quilting to be done before you can really get the whole effect and know if you did the right thing or not.  I should know in a few months.*smirk