On to the borders!

After sweeping and mopping the downstairs, I finished up the center of Jim’s quilt this morning.  By the way, a week or so ago Judy mentioned that she’d picked up one of those little Shark Steam Mops, and loved it.  I knew if Judy loved it I would too, and I’d been eyeballing them for awhile, wondering if they were all they were cracked up to be.

I love mine!  I bought the larger model since our entire downstairs, except for the master bedroom, is concrete flooring… I have a lot of mopping to do!  This thing is amazing… it’s like going from hand quilting to longarm quilting!  No heavy mop bucket to lug around, it does a terrific job, no nasty cleaners, no rinse water, and it dries in minutes!

Anyway, since I added sashing to my blocks, the border in the original design will have to be modified.  I’ve redrawn the blocks in EQ, and this afternoon I’m going to play with border options.  I only have enough of the various batiks for the original border, but I have plenty of black and the ivory batik background, so we’ll see what I come up with.  It can’t be too extensive, or the quilt will be too big.

For everyone that asked, this quilt originally started off to be a kit I purchased from the Fat Quarter Shop, called “Cappuccino Delight” with a finished size of 60 inches by 70 inches.  I cut the pattern out, began piecing it, and decided I didn’t like it.  It went into my UFO pile for almost a year.

Then happened to pick up a Cappuccinno Bali Pop and a new book, “Scrap-Basket Surprises” by Kim Brackett while I was back in Missouri dropping off my sewing machine for servicing, and saw the “Bali Sea Star” quilt in the book, and was inspired to pull the UFO out and see if I could save enough fabric to make this quilt instead.  Would you believe that most of the pieces I’d already cut were the exact size needed for this quilt?

Update on Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 2:39PM by Created by CJ

Hmmm… by adding black corners and more black strips to the borders, I have enough fabric to do the borders as in the original pattern.  Not sure I like the effect though?

These are just laying here on the floor at the moment.  My other option would be to do something in black and the ivory batik, but I think that will be too stark, so this may end up being it.

Comments

[Reeter]

Would that Shark gizmo work for preshrinking fabrics?

[Created by CJ]

No, this one is just a floor mop.

[Kathyl]

I love my steam mop too! I have a vinyl kitchen floor. It feels so good under my bare feet after being mopped!

[Judy D]

DD3 and Judy L gave the Shark such high praise that I've been watching the sale ads hoping to get the big one a little cheaper but I'm about to just go get it!

I like the border the way you have it layed out. Anything you do will be good. :-)

[Yvette]

I'm a big fan of my steam mop.

I'm also a big fan of piano key borders, I think it looks great that way.

[Cheryl M.]

I think the border is exactly what the quilt needs. It frames the blocks and keeps the focus on the blocks without over powering them. The blocks with the black corner stones forces your eyes to travel over the quilt then the border pulls your eye back into the blocks. IMHO
Cheryl

[Karen]

I like the border...might do a thin border before it - IMHO

[Gwen]

I like the piano key border with the exception of the places where there are dark border pieces touching the dark sashing squares. I'm going to be shopping for a shark.

[Polly]

I like the border but would suggest maybe a thinner solid tan border between the sashing and piano keys? I have Pergo so can't use the Shark on my floors....sigh. Polly

[Dee]

I live the piano keys -- but I would add a thin frame between the keys and the stars ... beautiful .. now if I could finish something !

[Kim]

I love your quilt, CJ! How fortunate that the cut pieces you had already cut were the same size! I like the border, too.