Solving problems when making a quilt

One of my big problems in prepping for the Arizona Cactus class, was having to choose and cut all the fabrics out ahead of time. I followed the instructions because I didn’t want to show up to class and find that I couldn’t start sewing without having done so.

Turns out I cut some things wrong, but coming home I finished up the center block and the first outer border. Then it was on to the final border.

My idea was to pull in more red. As I look at this on my design wall, I’m not happy with what I’m seeing. The red background was just too dark. Although I have one red star in the center, it just didn’t feel right. Back to my fabric stash.

This whole quilt is from stash, which I am very proud of, but that makes it harder to make fabric choices. Will I have enough? I found a darker yellow, repeated the dark purple and red in the spikes. I used up the last tiny bit of a blue toile fabric that I had. It relates to the blue background but brings in new interest. Just like this yellow does, rather than using the original yellow. Here I’m auditioning it with the dark center.

Here it is with the light center. At this point I also realized that I don’t have enough of the dark yellow for the rest of the background on this border. Oops.

Both options side by side. My plan was to use the orange as the final border. I realized that I’ll have to incorporate some of it into this border. Looking at this image, I decided that I like the dark center better than the light one. It does bring more depth to these half stars.

I’ll show you the front in a minute. As you can see, I used the rest of the dark yellow for the corners and the orange to fill in the border. This is what a paper pieced quilt looks from the back.

This is what the floor looks like while removing the papers. Even with newsprint, it’s a mess and there are a lot of tiny pieces left on the back. Oh well, they will disintegrate when I wash the quilt.

Ta Da!!! I love this!!! I was running out of the orange as well, but look it worked! Sure my final border is slightly smaller, but who cares. I am so happy about bringing the blue in as a small border. I LOVE how using the orange in the quilt makes it even more interesting. Still needs to be quilted, that will have to wait.

The puzzle is about 2/3s’ done! The quilt/table topper is intended for this table, so I need to finish the puzzle first.

Now to finish this post with grandkids, just because.

Granddaughter is relatively easy for a baby. Everything is relative! There really aren’t easy babies.

Big brother loves her.

And she loves her dad!

Leah

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