Borders...

Another weekend is drawing to a close!  It's always been sad to me when Monday rolls around and another week of work, school, & obligations begin again.  Even now, when I spend most of my time sewing, or planning something to sew, I am still sad to see Sunday end.

This weekend was spent applying borders.  The quilt to the left here is about 50"x44", just about too big for a crib, but after it's quilted it will be listed as such.  The colors will be nice for a boy I think.

The fabric is from Moda's Collection for a Cause - Friendship.  I used two charm packs and about 1/2 yard for the red border, the small inside border was cut from a French General print in my stash -- it blended in nicely.

The quilting will be a simple "orange peel" design around each piece, probably about 1"deep at the widest point.

This is another quilt that received it's border today.  It is a pattern from Thimbleberries that sews up really fast if you stick with it.  I however, took the aged approach, and waited until just the right amount of time to finish -- about 18 months-- a fine amount of time for a fine quilt!  Seriously, I made the stars, then set it aside, then the geese, and again set it aside.  Then, one day a few months ago, the green fabric for the blocks jumped out of my stash and said "use me!!"  Then I was perplexed over the border fabric, and originally thought it would be one of the red star fabrics, but again I was stumped and set it aside.  Then today of all days, this other green fabric practically flew into my hands and said, "me!!"  And, I think it was right.  So you see, for a finely aged quilt, one must sometimes wait, until all things come together.

The pattern can be found for free on the Thimbleberries web site. 

This is my latest effort.  A log cabin made around cute French General blocks.  I'm really not sure if my vision will come out well. The beige fabric is the center, and the left side is the first section of the next round.  The dark brown/black fabrics will meet on the next round, with the turkey red on the outside once it's all together.  Then I will add one more round of blocks using beige & turkey red.  Then, the border will be a black band, then piano key 2" wide strips sewn to a border that will criscross on the outer corners.  The one element I'm not certain about is the outer corners...  it could be more beige blocks, or small pieced courthouse step blocks.... or, I could miter the "piano key" border,  but right now, I'm not certain I like how this is coming out.  But, I'm committed at this point, so I'll keep sewing.

I wish there were some great news to share, or even some excitement.  I'm a bit sad to report the one think I'm anxious about is to read about Susan Branch's trip to Beatrix Potter's home!!  If you aren't familiar with Susan's work, or would love to read about her working trip to England, click on the link to find her.  I've enjoyed every post since the beginning, but have loved the photos she's posted of England most of all.  I highly recommend her blog for your next tea break!  ~~ttfn~~
 

Luna Notte Quilt... top finished

It's only been a year and a half in progress, you'd think it was something really complicated.  No, not really, just pretty fabric.  This quilt was made from 2 jelly rolls, a red fat quarter, 7 2.5" black strips and 3 yards of border fabric.  I learned that even though the fabric coordinates, it always doesn't look great all together!  While the variety in a jelly roll is great, using all the colorways in one quilt can just be too much.  The side blocks are Nine patch blocks, initially planned for a lap quilt.  I reached the point of saturation, didn't want to make more square blocks, so fortunately they were all the same size, and it worked perfectly. 

Honestly, I'm just glad it's finished. 

My goal this summer is to complete all the partially finished quilts stacked up!  I have 3 that just need borders, one 1.5" flower garden that needs 2 more rows hand pieced for the border (this quilt is 24 years in progress!!!), one king size crazy quilt that I'm quilting-as-I get time, and I'm sure there's more if I just go look!

Anyway, I love the idea of starting September with a clean slate.  I have several ideas popping in & out of my brain, but I've been drawing them in my quilt journal, and that seems to prevent more new starts for now.

This quilt is a Thimbleberries pattern, free on their web site.  It is waiting for me to choose a red fabric for the border.  This is the third time I've made pattern. It makes a quick & easy gift. 

The block on the right is from a old top I recently purchased from an online auction.  I've never seen this particular pattern before.  Has anyone else?  The blocks are quite large--about 16".  It is 3 blocks by 3 blocks for a total of nine.  I really love it, except for the color of all the ladies lips!  They are all a deep red color and quite large!  I don't know if really red lipstick was the fashion when these blocks were made, or exactly what the reason was for making large red mouths.  The embroidery is quite nice, but the blocks were joined with a large running stitch. 

The Hoop Skirted Ladies

I really want to pick out the red, and just make a silhouette type profile.  I'm afraid the red has stained the fabric, so I'll just try it one block at a time.  I'm also going to separate the blocks and add lattice of some sort to give the ladies some room!  Can you believe I don't have any 30's reproduction prints?  I cut them all into 2.5" strips last year, and most have been put into several tops.  I'm open to any and all suggestions for the hoop skirted ladies --  I think that is a good name for them!  ttfn