I was hoping to have the borders on the blue and orange quilt this weekend. I was successful! I like the checkerboard border. Now, what to name it? I always have such a difficult time naming quilts. I am very left-brained.
The orange shapes in this quilt take on a different look depending on how I look at the quilt. I'm still struggling with what to call the orange shapes - blazes? diamonds? reflected arcs?
A trip to JoAnn this weekend was needed to purchase backing fabric. It was very frustrating. I didn't want to spend $40 on backing. And I didn't want floral. I looked at blues and oranges. I found a things that were $7.99 and $9.99 a yard. If I'm going to spend that kind of money, I'll go the the locally-owned quilt shop! If I found something that fit the medium blue, non-floral requirement, it didn't have enough on the bolt. I finally found one that fit the bill. And it has a nice soft feel to it. Not exciting at all, but it will make a nice backing for the ... um, oh yea, I don't have a name for this quilt yet.
After shopping Saturday, I just wasn't quite ready to sew the checkerboard border on the blue quilt. Borders are not my favorite part of a making a quilt. I needed some low-key work. So I pieced some Friendship Star blocks. And some Rail Fence blocks. I cut these with my AccuQuilt Go! cutter a couple of weeks ago. Most of the blue quilt was cut with my AccuQuilt too. Today, I looked at how much piecing I had left to do on this baby quilt. Not much. I decided to finish the blocks. They are not sewn together yet. I put them on the design wall and thought about the layout and borders. I considered sashing them, but decided to use a strong border to contain the pieces. I quickly settled on two borders with the outside border being a dark purple.
I don't have enough of this purple and yellow, but I'm planning on getting something close to this. Actually, I have a yellow just about this color that I can use. I'll put the quilt together and bring it to the store to purchase the border. I may change my mind, depending on what I find. And, since this is to be a baby quilt, I have a darling baby nursery fabric for the back.
And hand-dyed fabrics. I have rinsed and washed all of my snow-dyed fabrics. I haven't yet pressed them. I had used some of the dye solution after it had been diluted with snow to get some light colors. And I put some fabric in the sink under the dripping fabric. It seems that I need light fabrics and don't have them. I have several yards now!
I suppose I need to figure out what I need to do next. I'm teaching several times in the next few weeks, so I will probably do some work on those classes. And maybe get the hand-dyed fabrics pressed. And I should go ahead and sew the baby quilt together. Then it will be ready for borders whenever I get to the store. I could quilt the blue one. I've even decided how I'm going to quilt it! And I have a couple of other quilts that I want to put together for the class I'm teaching at the retreat. And clean the muddy dog paw prints from the dining room carpet. Not sure what I'll work on next, but I'm sure I won't be bored.
Wow! That checkerboard border really adds a lot to that quilt!
ReplyDeleteI'm envious ... my local JoAnn's doesn't carry backing fabric in anything other than white. :-( I have to go to the LQS to buy backing that coordinates with my quilt tops.
they look like giant bow ties to me. Hello Professor? :) great job!
ReplyDeleteI also think they look like bow ties. Nice work !
ReplyDeleteHow did you get the checkerboard border to come to exactly the right size ? If I try something like that, you can be sure I will be an inch too short or too long !
Very nice - Orange Pop?
ReplyDeleteI particularly the last border
Nice border on your blue and orange quilt! I also have problems naming my quilts. I usually post a picture and ask for some ideas. My SIL has named a couple of my quilts--she is an English major and very creative, but she does not sew.
ReplyDeleteI am going to try to implement your scrap system... or something similar. I'm having trouble deciding what sizes I should cut. Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments on the quilt names. I think simply asking for input from creative minds is a great idea!
ReplyDeleteNanato4, the local (20 minutes from here) JoAnn has only a few wide quilt backs. I usually end up buying regular quilt fabric and seaming it.
Carolyn, when I added the orange border, I made sure to cut it at 2 1/2" so I could do the checkerboard border. The strips in the quilt were cut at 2 1/2", so everything worked out fine. I did a piano key border that I wanted a specific number of fabrics in. This was because I was doing a color wheel repeat. The math didn't quite work out. The border would be an inch or two larger than the quilt. I could have added another border, but that look wouldn't have worked. I sewed the border pieces together then took a tiny bit bigger seam every 4 fabrics or so. It was just enough to make it work, but not nearly enough for anyone to notice.