... then sewed the rows together. Lots of points to try to avoid cutting off, but I got through it with most of the points intact. More or less.
Once together, I started auditioning fabrics for the borders. Inner first. I thought this would be perfect:
I didn't have any more of the hideous green that's in the body of the quilt (on the left), but this one comes mighty close. I don't have a lot of border options due to how much fabric it calls for; this is a very large quilt! My thoughts (which I now question) were something along the lines of - that green is so ugly I should use one just like it for the inner border! Seemed like a good idea at the time - and it's very true to the period. (Civil War Era.)
Here I am, happily sewing it in ...
Everything was just fine until I neared the end. I was lightly holding onto the border strip underneath and noticed it was getting shorter than the top ...
 |
| "Son of a ..." |
I may have uttered an HBO word. Or two. Or more. What's that saying? "Measure once, cuss twice"? Yeah. Then I thought, well, heck, the border had to be pieced anyway, due to how long it is, so just grab another 2 1/2" chunk of it and sew it on. Yeah. Great idea.
Wouldn't it have been an even better if I'd grabbed the same green?!? I didn't even realize what I'd done until I posted the shot to social media. Chalk that one up to being color blind and a tad rushed. Son of a ... let's just keep going. My husband (best husband in the world, I might add) said it adds charm. He's a keeper.
I kept going, adding the rest of the borders and trying to measure better this time.
It's not as wavy as it looks there, but to be honest, it IS a little wavy, since I didn't measure well. ARGH! At this stage, I was in the "starch, steam, and quilting could take care of that" stage. Hopefully, anyway.
Then, I looked to see what Civil War repros I had that could work for the outer border. I really like this blue:
But that's where I'm stuck. Do I hate the green? I'm not a green kinda gal, but it can work. Do the green and blue not go? Do neither of them work?
Someone whose opinion I greatly value (my quilting mentor from years ago) said she doesn't think the green works at all, but that she likes the blue. Too much of a statement from the green. Maybe that's it -- I could see how the green could overpower the quilt.
I'd love to know what you all think. I MIGHT have a soft brown I could substitute for the green -- or I'm sure I have muslin. I hate to rip out (especially that much), but I don't want to be unhappy with this.
I won't be sewing for a few days still -- we're having our main floor carpeting ripped out and replaced, so we have a lot going on. Please drop a comment or let me know on FB or email. I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts!
Thanks for reading!
KZK
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