Don't Just Slap On A Border

That's what we as quilters are told.  "Don't just slap on a border." The border should enhance the design of the quilt, not just make it bigger.

So it was with lots of trepidation, that I slapped a border onto my homespun braid quilts.  But I had worked on the two twin size bed quilts for 2 of our quilting getaways.  My goal was to use up my homespun stash.  I thought they would make great quilts for our place in the Pocono Mountains. Frankly, working on the 2 quilts at once and sewing piece onto braid and piece onto braid, over and over again, I was just so bored.  When I sewed the braid strips together, I had this sinking feeling.  The quilt tops were just too short.

What I wanted to do, was just drop them off at my long arm quilter, Susie Racobaldo, and be done with them.  But I knew they were too short.  I couldn't bring myself to doing a little seam ripping and then lengthening the braids.  So I slapped on a 10" pieced strip of fabric along the top.  Now I did a little bit of machine applique.  On one quilt I added "Our Cabin"  and on the other I appliqued "In The Woods".

At least the quilt was long enough now, but I was still a bit concerned about this slapped on border.  Susie recommended this amazing quilting pattern of pine needles and pine cones.  She used an olive green thread.

I intentionally used a flannel backing and Warm & Natural batting to make the quilt heavy, because that's what my family likes.  I tried to use up a bit more of my stash making a bias binding from a black homespun.  I love a plaid fabric on the bias for a binding.  But before I could sew it on, I had to move my helper.  You would think she would know her place was on the Princess pillow.  (Maybe I have to make one out of pink velvet!)

 After putting the binding on the quilt, I thought it looked really good and I was very happy.  The bedroom with the twin beds was going to look perfect.

And the best part was that I did not regret slapping on that border.  The machine quilting with the dark thread looked fabulous on the tan pieced border.  It was the perfect solution to integrate the border with the quilt. Now I could say that I knew that would happen, but I would be lying.  I am just relieved.