The first thing I have done to my quilt is to add three borders to the center section. The three borders were stitched together before the 1/8" inch inside border was appliqued to the quilt top. The inside border is only 1/8" wide and I find it much easier to applique something that small onto the background rather than seaming it. I can keep the it all even that way. I have problems when I seam those small borders and I can make them look really wiggly by only being off a thread or two if I stitch it with a regular seam.
I mitered the corners of the quilt after all three borders were added. You can see a shadow of the background piece behind the borders. I trimmed it back after the borders were stitched on and the corners mitered. Didn't want to take a chance and trim it then find out I had to rip something apart and not have enough fabric.
My original idea was to put a scalloped border on the outside of the print border. After I started laying the purple scallops out I started getting doubts about it. It just looked way too busy and detracted from the center basket. So off they came!
This is how the top looks now - just plain borders. I do want to use the dark purple again either as the binding or a flange inside the border to bring the purple to the outside of the quilt but those scallops were just wrong, wrong, wrong! Since I have large areas of solid borders I will do more quilting in those areas now.
OK, now to start figuring out how to quilt it....what designs to use, etc. Am thinking feathers because I love to quilt feathers. Is that taking the easy way out?
Oh, by the way if you want to read about the making of the other two basket quilts and the center of this one just look back in my March 09 blogs where I started blogging about the making of them.
Lynn
