Working on the Border....

The New York Beauty may soon get a border!  I have made a decision {pretty sure anyway}....

To mimic the pointy parts of the block....I want a pointy border....

I drafted this pattern so that it would fit between two {NYB} quarter blocks on each end....

So it is a 10 inch finished border...

And will be flanked by quarter blocks....at least that is the plan....

Still working on the hexagons....if you haven't tried them yet....give them a try! They are cute little stinkers :)

The weekend is almost here!!!!  YAY!  I get to go to work....which for me is too much fun!

mary 

A Party!

I want to officially invite everyone to a Party!!! 

Jennifer at Ellison Lane Quilts is having a BIG 5 Blog Party beginning May 2nd.!  She has planned a fantastic Giveaway and you have the opportunity to meet 5 different bloggers {one is little old me!} each day next week!!!!

  

So pop over to Ellison Lane and check out all that is going on!!!

**************************************************************

I have my hubby home for two weeks....both a blessing and a curse....we have house stuff to work on and he will be doing most of the work  {the blessing} and we have house stuff to work on {the curse}!!!

So to prepare, I spent ALL of yesterday cleaning my closet....and once you start one closet you have to clean others!  So I cleaned closets, and organized my stash {WHEW!}  

Today I was able to get a little sewing done....

I am working on the last block for the New York Beauty Quilt....

   

Now trying to decide on the style of border.  I love piano key borders, but I do those quite a bit.  So I am thinking of a half drop diamond border....we will see.  What kind of border do you like?  Or no border at all?  Would love to hear your thoughts on borders.

I want to finish this one....I am itching to do another Material Obsession Quilt :)

Hope you are having a Wonderful Wednesday!

mary 

Stashbuster Update...

I've, finally, been able to get the borders assembled and added to the top....

This hasn't been an easy task...way too much "life" going on around here.  Two of my daughters started classes at the university this week...so lots of juggling money to purchase books, getting schedules tweaked...hopefully it is all settled now.  

So this morning I added the borders to this amazing quilt...the plan is to purchase backing fabric and baste this weekend.  Whoo-hoo!  Then I only have 3 quilts to quilt!  WooT!!!

The rest of the day, I will focus on #1 of the twin baby quilts....hand quilting!

Have a great weekend!

Mary



A Tutorial - Spike Border

A little tutorial....I have been so inspired by Gwen Marston of Liberated Quiltmaking.  She has taken traditional quilt making and relaxed the rules so quilting becomes a very creative process.  When I began quilting - some 20 yrs. ago - making a sawtooth border required careful measurements and seaming so all the points were pointy and everything fit together perfectly.  Now I can create a Spikey Border and not fuss over measurements.

Begin with a square or rectangle of your border background fabric (foundation fabric)...you choose the size, but remember one side (measurement) will need to be consistent, so that when you sew the border pieces together you have a consistent border width....with little trimming after.  For example you could cut the foundation pieces 2.5inches X 4.5 inches,  3.5 X 4.5 inches, etc.

 

Take a piece of scrap fabric for the spike...it just needs to be large enough that you can sew it on to the corner of the foundation and fold it back to completely cover the corner of the foundation piece.

 

Place the scrap diagonally across the foundation fabric (right sides facing).  I usually try to cover the base of the foundation piece with the scrap and the length or spikeyness (new word) of the spike depends on how far up the adjacent side you take the scrap fabric.  Some of my spikes are tall and thin and some are short and fat!

   

As you can see the spike will lay on the background fabric from the base to the right side about 2/3rds of the way up the side.

Now sew a 1/4 inch seam using the scrap as your raw edge.

Fold the scrap back over so the right side is facing you.  Finger press and then press with an iron.  Flip the whole block over so you are looking at the back of the foundation and the scrap piece.  Use the foundation fabric as a guide to cut away the excess scrap fabric. You can trim the foundation fabric away at the 1/4 inch seam.  

      

Continue making spikey blocks until you have enough to piece together and cover the sides of your quilt top.

In this picture I have made the long pieced border a little heavy at the base.  I would probably just trim the base before adding to the quilt.  

Hopefully, this makes sense....just leave a comment if you need clarification!  I love to hear from you!

**shout out Chris**

Mary