Borders and Blocks

Thanks to the helpful folks at my local quilt shop, I was able to pick out fabric for the borders for the "Southern Stars" quilt shown in my previous post.  I am no good at picking colors out by myself so I was grateful for their help!  Aren't these colors gorgeous?  And hopefully boyish as the quilt will go to my youngest son.

 

Over the past week I've been playing with some scrap fabric and sewing up some sample blocks of these calves.  The pattern is "Baby Bovines" by Debbie Mumm and I want to make sure my cutting and my 1/4 inch seam are very accurate before I start cutting into the fabric for the quilt.  This quilt will be for my oldest son who loves animals and the outdoors and used to work on a dairy farm.

Puma, the cat shown in my previous post, is no longer with us.  Several days after that picture was taken we found her by the side of the road, apparently hit by a car.  Almost three years ago I had rescued her one night.  She showed up on the fire escape of the surgical unit I was working on, and meowed so loud that I had patients who wondered if they were hearing things!  We called security and they came and shooed her away but she came right back so when morning came my co-workers helped me catch her and I brought her home for my youngest son.  He named her and promptly took off her pink collar because no cat of his was going to be wearing pink even if she was a girl!  She had been neutered and house trained and soon became a part of the family.  She loved to be outside and would reach up and try to turn the door knob with her paws when she wanted to go out.  Her love of the outdoors eventually became the death of her, but I like to think that the three years she spent with us were good ones for her.  We miss her, and there will never be another black cat like Puma!

What Color Should the Border Be?

Finally the blocks are arranged in a way that looks good to me.  Once I have the layout the way I want it on my design wall, aka the living room floor, I like to take a picture.  That way if I get mixed up during the construction of the quilt top I can always refer back to the photo. 



The rows of sashing are sewed on and the top is together!  I took this over to my local quilt shop today to audition some fabrics for borders.  I found several pieces I like but I am going to sleep on it over the weekend and make sure I still like them on Monday or Tuesday.  What color would you use for the border?

This project was a $5 block of the month quilt at our local quilt shop with 12 blocks.  I wanted my quilt bigger than that so I carefully cut out my pieces each month and saved the scraps.  One day I sat down with my Creative Memories digital scrapbooking software and designed 8 more blocks.  Son #3, 16 years old, watched me do this and wondered who this quilt was going to be for.  When I told him I didn't have anyone in mind, he wondered if it could be for him?  Well, I couldn't have been more pleased and the quilt got an owner right then and there.  This will be for him to take with him when he marries and starts a new home.

I was able to get all 8 extra blocks out of the scrap pieces I had carefully saved without having to go buy more fabric.  This was my very first project using batiks.  We could choose between civil war reproductions or batiks and I decided to go out of my comfort zone.  I'm glad I did, because I really like the way this turned out.



Now I am on to the next project, under the watchful eye of Puma the cat.  She likes to sneak into my sewing room any chance she gets.  Can you find her in the picture?  Silly girl!