06 December 2013

8 Years in the Making

My cousin and her boyfriend fiance are getting married! They have been dating for EIGHT YEARS! They already bought a house together, so they might even be commonlaw at this point, but still, they are getting married!! She is very anti-wedding. When we were kiddos, she and her sister had to be flower girls in a wedding so they both wore frilly little girl dresses. She proceeded to take hers off and drag it through the dirt because she wanted nothing to do with a wedding. Some things never change. They are getting married at the courthouse and then having a small party at a bar/restaurant/bowling alley/arcade (isn't Texas wonderful?).

Naturally I am making a quilt for them! This might seem extravagant since I already made them this quilt when they bought their house.
Housewarming quilt for RoseAnna & Brandon

But my piecing and quilting skills have improved SO much since I made this one that I just have to make another (like I need an excuse to make a quilt, puhlease!). Plus, my cousin has started sewing and is toying with the idea of learning to quilt, so I want to do something really special for someone I love! This is going to be the center of the quilt. Apparently I'm on a Kona solids kick since the last quilt I made was all solids.
Kona solids stairstep/zig zag. Still needs a border.

But this one probably won't end up made entirely out of solids because it needs a border. This quilt is going to be about 72" by 72" or just big enough to cover the top of a king sized bed. Each block is 8" by 8" so I still need to add about an 8" border all the way around. I generally don't like to do borders that large, but it would have looked even sillier to make an extra row of blocks and have a ridiculously thin border.

So now I'm to the picking border fabric stage. I already decided it can't be a a solid or any color that is already in the quilt. Perhaps a charcoal? Well, this is the assortment of fabrics my local quilt shop had to choose from.
Help! Which border fabric is best?

Out of these, I like the blacks. But wouldn't a simple sketch in black & white look great?

Or what about some linen?

Ack! Decisions, decisions! Which one would you pick? 

3 comments:

  1. Best wishes to your cousin and her fiance. What a gorgeous quilt you are making them - really striking. Personally I like the middle of the three fabrics shown with the quilt, but it's going to be a stunning quilt whichever you choose!

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  2. Your cousin will be thrilled with your quilt, I'm sure. Personally I feel that borders should relate to the quilt center in some way. I would suggest a narrow stop border of the charcoal linen, and then wide borders of the same light grey solid that you used within the blocks. Good luck!

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  3. I'm not sure what to choose. Maybe you to try some ideas suggested by the commenter above. What colours does your cousin have in the room where this quilt may be used? This may help you with your final decision.

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