Memory Quilt Pieced Border

I have all the sashing and cornerstones on, and the first border around.  Now I am working on the pieced border. Here's are the pieces all laid out, ready to sew.

 The quilt so far measures 84" x 84".  I wanted 2" squares going around, made up of framing fabric and/or "memory" fabrics.  But 84 inches means 42 squares, some of which will be colored, and some of which will be cream.  However, if I need a colored square in each corner (and I do!), I need an odd number of squares, either 43 or 45.  PROBLEM!!  I'm going to be either either 2 inches too wide or 2 in. too short.

Here's how I solved it. I decided to go with 45 squares (2 in wider.) This 2 inches needs to be "absorbed" over the course of 84 inches, and 44 squares. Mathematically, each of the 44 squares only needs to be 2/44ths smaller, or reducing that, 1/22nd.  That's less than 1/16th of an inch!  If I make each square's seam allowance slightly (like a HAIR) wider, that 2 inches would be eased into the length of the whole side.  I'm not THAT accurate of a sewer, that I can judge and sew 1/16th of an inch each time, so I just decide to go for it, sew the seams a hair wider, and adjust everything at the end of the row (either stretch it a little if it's too short, or resew a couple seams a bit wider if it's too long). I sewed my squares together, and placed my strip along the top and pinned it.  It fit PERFECTLY!  I still have to sew it onto the quilt, so I'll let you know how that goes next time!  (can you stand the suspense that long!?)

Memory Quilt

My daughter-in-law, Maggie, asked me to make her a quilt in memory of her Mom, Kay Eicher, who passed away in May.  I said I would.  Maggie brought over a box of Kay's clothes for me to cut up and re-use the fabric to make quilt blocks.

There was a variety of fabrics in the box, not all of them usable.  I can use the tee-shirt fabrics, and the cottons of course, but rayon and polyesters?  I think not. I bought some fuseable interfacing to iron onto the knit fabrics so they won't stretch and got started. There were not enough different fabrics, so I had to have some duplicates.  Maggie wanted a queen sized quilt, so I started looking for a pattern that would showcase her mom's fabrics.  I think I found the PERFECT pattern!

The perfect pattern is called "Bird Watching," and it features larger, 12" blocks.  I framed each of my blocks with a one inch framing strip all around, thus deviating from the pattern a WEE BIT!  My blocks turned out to be 14".  The nice thing about this pattern, is that it has large pieces: one 9" square, one 3" square and two 9x3 rectangles, which helps to show off the fabric design. I tried to pick some color in the fabric to match for the framing strips.  The clothes in the boxes tended to be on the paler side, and I think the framing strips I added help jazz up some of the more muted fabrics and set them off.  I will be adding sashing and cornerstones, and a pieced 6" border.


I have 25 blocks completed, and estimate my finished quilt will be @ 90 x 90".   I arranged the blocks in a 5x5 grid, and set to work trying to balance darks/lights, solids/prints etc.  With no particular color scheme in mind when I started, I noticed a sort of  "rainbow" emerging, and was inspired by that.  Here is the result.

 I debated about what kind of sashing strips to use.  Originally, I was thinking a solid cream color,  somewhat neutral, because the blocks are all sorts of colors.  Then I went to the fabric store, and auditioned the blocks against different cream colored fabrics.  Nothing struck my fancy at all.  I auditioned the blocks against a solid black on a whim, and BINGO!  This is it!  I loved it!  However, Maggie is more traditional in her tastes, and so I decided to get her opinion first.  Maggie was not  totally in favor of solid black, but was very diplomatic and said anything I did would be fine.  My  husband was also not in favor of it, saying that it would make the quilt look like a funeral shroud, and a memory quilt should evoke happy memories.  He didn't think black would do that.  So, back to square 1.  (Or square 2?  I did find a pattern I liked.)

In the meantime, I had ordered some fabric for a different project, and that fabric arrived in the mail.  I tried auditioned this new fabric against my blocks, and actually liked the results.  There are two possibilities:

 

      Black with white dots          or          Cream with Rainbow dots

Knowing Maggie's preference, I have opted to use the Cream with  Rainbow dots. (Especially now that there is a sort of rainbow in the quilt!) The cornerstones stand out better, and so will the pieces in the pieced border when I get that far.  I am satisfied with my choices, now to cut the fabric and sew the quilt!