Happy Birthday! (to me)

Quilting complete!

Happily binding

Center medallion

Wild goose border blowing in the wind

Thought about stopping right here

Final pieced border

Well, it looks as though my special quilt, Whisper Sweet Nothings, will not quite be finished in time to put a bow on it for my birthday, but I truly gave it my all and I’m so close to being finished that I’m calling it done. As of yesterday afternoon, the label was on and I had just over half of the binding hand sewn down, and if today wasn’t so jam-packed I’d probably be able to complete that binding. As it stands, I’m travelling tomorrow and need to get things in order before I leave, and perhaps pack an overnight bag with at least some pj’s, so more than likely today will not be a sewing day. The best part about that – I will have some binding to do in the hotel room! hooray! that’s my favourite!

Today, I’m also sending out a progress report on my February piecing project, with step-out photos of the various stages the quilt has gone through. The first two photos you’ve already seen in a previous post and I should stress that when I picked up this project again on February 1st, only the center medallion portion was complete, and since then I’ve created the other borders. After adding the four patches on point I thought the quilt looked good enough to be called finished, but the background I used to set those four patches had such a calming effect on the quilt that I felt it needed to be boosted up with more colour. At first I was just going to add a brightly coloured floral fabric but realized I’d be very disappointed in myself (and the results) and therefore chose to do a pieced border instead. This would give me the opportunity to bring in more pattern and colour, create a larger quilt (which I think this one deserves to be), and not get bored with the piecing process.

My initial concept was to create a checkerboard pattern using scrappy two inch squares from all the leftover fabrics but it kept morphing into something much more interesting, so I’m just going to ‘go with the flow’. I’m incorporating some of the leftover flying geese and four patch units from the previous borders, creating rhythm and unity within the quilt, while bringing in some new fabrics to introduce additional textures in similar colours. This final border will take a lot more time to piece but I think it will be much more satisfying in the end. Thinking ahead for finishing, I’ve already set aside some of that yummy, red and amber spotty fabric for the binding. Considering that I’m making it up as I go along, I’m totally pumped about how visually cohesive the overall design of this project appears. Happy Stitching!

as always, carol

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2 Responses to Happy Birthday! (to me)

  1. Tammy says:

    Happy Birthday! Your binding fabric is awesome on the Whisper Sweet Nothings…tres chic! Your medallion quilt is coming along nicely too. Keep up the good work, bubby!

  2. carol says:

    Hi Bubby! Thanks for the feedback! I’m planning to have ‘Whisper Sweet Nothings’ with me on my trip so you may even see it in person :o)

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