Saturday, September 6, 2008

A border quandry

I'm not supposed to be quilting today. I have loads of clean laundry all over the living-dining room waiting to be put away. I have ten of my newly finished UFO's waiting to be put away - I took them to guild Thursday night for the "what I did this summer" show and tell program. Once again I have antique quilts from the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center to sew sleeves onto in preparation for their October quilt show. I have five days of junk mail to go through. The list goes on.

So what did I do when I got up this morning? I tried choosing borders for Lily's quilt. If you look at the picture of the original you'll see that Crystal Carter used a border stripe for her border. She designed this quilt right after Jinny Beyer burst onto the quilting fabric scene in the early 80's with her collections of border stripes. At that time I had yards and yards of them. Most all of them have been used and what I have left is either not suitable or too little. I have lots and lots of beautiful florals with brown backgrounds - perfect, except that the prints are so large they overwhelm the little bear. I have some cool fall colored striped fabrics, but they are so bright they also overwhelm our teddy. I've lost track of how many fabrics and fabric combinations I've tried. I think I've finally found it, however. I like how this looks. I'm going to let it hang until tomorrow, looking at it many times today while I go about my chores. If it still looks good to me by tomorrow then I'll start cutting. The appliqué laps onto the border so it must be finished before I start embellishing.

Guess I'd better get to work!
************
Gratitudes:
1. Fall - my favorite season!
2. Resumption of a regular routine
3. Yummy weight watchers recipes
4. Fiber 1 bars - a cross between a granola and a candy bar and only 2 points!
5. Digital cameras

4 comments:

quiltmom anna said...

Hi Patti,
I love the borders you have chosen- it makes a lovely frame without overwhelming the quilt. I will look forward to seeing your applique and embellishments..
Great bear pattern too.
Regards,
Anna

Sunny said...

I think these fabrics look great too. The whole top is looking adorable. I love it. I love bears! I cannot wait to see your finished quilt.

Anonymous said...

Oh Patti it is looking so adorable...
I like your choices, had to laugh at you trying so many different fabrics for the border...now tell us did you fold them up and put them back or do you have a pile of border fabric auditions on the floor!!!!!
Isn't it wonderful to be so inspired by a project, I have loved watching this week this quilt grow...
kathie

Maya Madhavan said...

Patti, the quilt is lovely. How big are the log cabin blocks?