Over the last couple of weeks I have spent a lot of time in the studio piecing the block swap quilt. The seam ripper was my constant companion as I kept changing my mind on border widths and fabric choices. This is not how I usually work and so was a new experience. Improvisational piecing can be liberating but can also bring headaches. It didn’t help that I ran out of the white background fabric and so had to change my mind over the corner block sizes.
But now after all the difficulties, the piecing is complete and it is time to decide whether to add borders or not. I left the quilt top on the design wall and pondered this question for several days we. I have gone from one border to two and finally three. Then there is the choice of fabrics. The choice for middle border are between the fabrics framing the blocks on the quilt top. The dark blue are the on-point blocks and the teal fabric frames the square ones.
I auditioned and photographed fabric combinations to make a decision. Finally I chose the dark blue, as it will give a more subtle effect to the border than the brighter teal fabric.
My aim was to complete the quilt top in February, which I am pleased to have done. I had thought that I could quilted it too. However as usual I don’t have sufficient fabric in my stash for the backing so I am now waiting for some more fabric to arrive.
This has been one of the frustrations of the last year, but hopefully with the vaccinations rolling out we will be able to visit our favourite fabric shops again soon. It has been good to use up fabric in the stash, as I am sure that I still have more than I will ever use.
Must keep quilting
Bev