Border Ideas

While I was at work yesterday I checked your comments, got some ideas and printed out a sheet of graph paper and started playing around. When I got home I refined some ideas, but still haven't decided what to do.

I did add the inner border to the fourth side of the quilt.

In between watching Roger Federer beat Gael Monfils rather definitively.

Inner Border

I finally got a little bit of sewing in last night... I added the narrow black and white border around 3 edges of the quilt. I still haven't decided how to make the outer border, but I'll work it out.

Laughing in the Sun

This is my wonderful son with the Laughing Out Loud quilt top. As you can see it was sunny and bright out, making it hard for me to frame the quilt (and my son) properly. This is for all of you who asked to see the entire quilt.It was a breezy day, and he was trying to keep the quilt from blowing away while he admired it. The color is very close to real life in the second photo, and you can click either photo to enlarge and get all the detail. I haven't compressed either one.
I want to thank all the wonderful women who left very thoughtful comments on yesterday's post. I really appreciate it. You ladies make up the best quilt guild anybody could ask for!

I will definitely be using the sashing fabric as an inner border. I liked Mimi's suggestion about using the jewel tones as the borders. I agree with Wanda and others who felt I needed three rows of strips. Those three rows of strips will have to be very carefully chosen and precisely placed. I am also thinking I might use the sashing fabric as the binding too.

Today, though, I've got catch up on housekeeping.

With or Without?

Gwen and Freddy's Reading In Bed quilt has three rows of random strips of fabric as a border. It's the inspiration for my Laughing Out Loud quilt, so I set out three rows of strips next to mine. I'm not quite sure if it works for me.So I tried adding a thin strip of the black and white sashing fabric as the innermost strip.I think I like it better. I think it's more unifying and gives the blocks a bit of space to breathe.
What do you think?


**It's got to have a border, it isn't big enough without one. It needs about six inches on either side. It's actually about 6" too long right now, so I may trim 6" from the bottom.

I want the top to "breathe" and I think a dark inner border would restrict it. I'm not 100% sold on the scrappy borders either.

A Cheap Fix

My sewing machine sits on an old fashioned student desk, only 18 by 24 inches. It's fine for sewing individual blocks, or strips, but when I have to sew bigger things, it's tough. Larger things just fall over the edges, making sewing a straight seam difficult. Usually I just move the machine to my dining room table, but that's a pain in the neck.A 20 x 30-inch piece of tempered masonite, scavenged from the basement, and a couple of 99-cent spring clamps from the hardware store,

solved the problem.It's not perfect, but it made sewing the Laughing Out Loud Quilt top so much easier.

The Joke's on Me - Laughing Again

Here's Millie with the fabric I will use for the backing of my Laughing Out Loud Quilt. (you can click the photo to enlarge.)

Now, you all have to remember that when I started this quilt, my intention was to make a wonky, fun, loud, break-the-rules, in-your-face quilt. When I saw this backing fabric on sale, I knew it would be perfect, because it too was loud and in-your-face. Since most of my quilts don't have filling, aren't quilted, live between the sheet and the blanket on the bed, and never get seen by anybody, I thought it was the ultimate joke.

I have to add the three narrow borders on all four sides (and actually it's a bit long, and I might trim off 6" or so), and my plan for the binding is a black and white stripe, so it will look like piano keys all around.

Well, the joke is on me. I never imagined the quilt would be so -beautiful-. I really didn't.

I had planned for the blocks to mesh with the sashing fabrics, creating a more abstract design. But when the top was sewn together, the sashing actually disappears, and what my eye sees are jewel tones that pop all over the quilt. It's really brighter than in the picture on Monday's post.

Well, it's so beautiful, I don't really want to hide it. Which means I am seriously considering having it quilted. So I can use it as a bedspread.

For all the world to see.


Go ahead. Laugh!

Plan for a Housing Development

I have been falling in love with wonky house quilts. I love Clare's, and Sarah's, and Lisa's, and Laura's. I have to make a child's quilt and I was wondering if I should make houses.

Sarah had specific rules about one of hers, yellow windows, dark roofs, etc. I went into the sewing room and started pulling fabrics, but, as Emeril says, I just wasn't feeling the love.

I love the bright happy colors in Laura's. I love the whites in Lisa's. I love the divine wonkiness of Clare's.

But my head hurts from working on my Laughing Out Loud quilt (about which I am in a quandary, but more about that another day), and I have learned that if I can't think, then the thing to do is to do something else.

Last night I was chatting with a friend and I thought of the kids coloring.

BINGO!I grabbed a sharpie and a stack of copy pager and roughly and quickly drew some wonky houses. Tomorrow I shall bring them to work and make several photocopies of each, then I shall mail them to my nephew and niece and ask them to color them, and then mail them back to me.

I can then interpret their color choices in fabric, and the result will be a meaningful quilt for their sibling!

NOW I'm excited.

Laughing Out Loud Top

I finished sewing the top for my Laughing Out Loud quilt on Sunday. Here it is, draped across the fence in my yard. (The "points" on that bottom edge will be trimmed away.) I will be adding thin borders all around.

It's funny, but looking at this now, it doesn't seem LOUD. It seems more "user friendly" and a lot less "in your face" than I thought it would be. I am very pleased with it so far.


Only after I sewed the two halves of the quilt together did I realize that I had forgotten to add the little sashing square at the end of one of the rows. Oops!

Five Rows Laughing

I sewed five rows together. Doesn't look like much, but I also:

Bought potted herbs (basil, parsley, rosemary, mint, oregano, catnip, sage, thyme) bell pepper and tomato plants and planted them in my container garden.

Stopped by the local Panera Bread to buy bread for dinner.

Roasted red peppers and made Muhammara.

Made a Lemon Angel Food Cake (from scratch).

Did the laundry.

Changed the sheets on my bed.

Bought groceries for dinner with my son and parents.

Cleaned the pots and pans.

Neatened up the rest of the house.

Made Spaghetti with Parsley Sauce, and enjoyed dinner with my family.

Cleaned up after my guests left, and ran the dishwasher.

Later today I can watch The French Open! Woo hoo!

First Laugh

With a three day weekend here, it makes sense to spend as much of it in my sewing studio as I can. So when I got home yesterday, I moved my dining room table over to one side of the room and started laying out the blocks for my Laughing Out Loud Quilt. I still have to add sashing to some of the half square blocks around the edges, and the quilt will have three narrow borders, but I'm not worried about those yet. I just wanted to get the blocks laid out on the floor to get a feel for how the quilt was going to look.I think it's going to look good. This layout is by no means carved in stone. Looking at these photos I can see three blocks lined up that should not be so close together, and I think the top half has more "busy" blocks than the bottom half, but unless I get it all down, I can't see it.

I think this might be one of those quilts where you almost can't do anything wrong when you lay it all out. It's so wild and so crazy (so LOUD), that almost anything will work.

I like the look of the blocks with the black and white outer fabrics a lot more than I thought I would. I love the way they play with the sashing by almost disappearing.

So, a fun couple of days ahead!

Half Squares with Sashing

I really don't do very well when I don't have much to do. Sure, I could be doing the dishes and folding last week's laundry, but where's the fun in that? Last night I laid out a bit of my Laughing Out Loud Quilt, and figured out where the half square blocks needed sashing strips. I might just try laying the blocks out over the weekend.

Guess it's time for the blue tape.

No More Must Do's

Everything I said I would make for anybody is done. If I was supposed to make it, it's made. If I was supposed to ship it, it's gone.

I have exactly -nothing- on my Must-Do List. Yes, I still have to work on my son's Sunshine Quilt and my Laughing Out Loud quilt, but neither of those have any type of deadline at all. They are fun projects and will be completed at my own pace, at my leisure and for my pleasure.

This doesn't mean my creative juices will be going to waste. I've got this other thing that's been rumbling around in my brain and lately it's been demanding a lot of attention.

So I'm going to give in, and switch gears for a bit. I'll still be sewing, because sewing is a stress relief from my job, but my posts will likely be a lot less regular.

Solution to a Quandary

I love to watch Tennis. This morning Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are playing in Madrid, and it's being televised on the Tennis Channel. I only get the Tennis Channel on the TV in the living room. So how can I watch and get something constructive done?Set up the ironing board in there, and use the time to press the scraps and bits I've stuffed in the little bins.
Yes, I'm crazy, I admit it.

Exquisite, Finished

The Exquisite Quilt is all finished. My son took this picture of me holding it, with Gina's wonderful quilt from DQS5 in the background. This quilt is for my godchild, who is due in September.
It finishes out at 39-1/2" x 44-1/2". You can click the photos to enlarge.


(It's not very bright out, so the colors might appear duller than they really are. I'll try again later, but I am sure the Sun has its own plans.)The Sun came out and brought the Wind with him!