Take a look at these!

Wow - I am utterly undone by the generosity of Sandi at Piecemeal Quilts.  Look at these amazing EQ designs she worked up for me in response to my request for advice in my last post.  You will remember that I had just finished my spiderweb quilt and was pondering the next step.  I felt that it was too small to stand alone and needed some kind of border, but what?  I had many excellent suggestions in the comments, and Sandi played around in EQ and showed me what they would look like all worked up.


Here is one that several people mentioned would look nice: a piano key border.



I quite liked the idea of a pieced border and mentioned that perhaps a border of flying geese would look nice.



A border using a colourful Kaffe Fassett print was a common suggestion.



If I had more sitzfleisch I could finish up by adding more speeder web blocks.  It looks good, but I don't think it's going to happen.  Time to move on, y'all.



Another suggestion for a pieced border had the pieces lying horizontally, not vertically.



And in my post, I had said I was thinking that a low contrast border that gave the impression of extending the background would look nice.  Funnily enough, this is my least favourite of all the ones Sandi worked up.



So, which one do you like most?  Thanks, so much, Sandi, for going to all this work for me - it is so helpful to see them all laid out!


Also, today is the second anniversary of my blog!  I am going to have a celebration, but I have not yet determined what form that will take.  It won't happen until the beginning of October, because I have to survive this month of teaching.  Our student teachers go out on practicum in October so I will be able to draw a breath and dig up some good-looking loot.

Advice, please!

What a great feeling it is to reach some closure on a WIP!  This spiderweb quilt was one I started last year in an on-line bee.  I got eleven blocks from Canadian quilters and slowly did the others myself.  That string routine gets old quickly, and I find I can only do a little at a time.  But I finally reached what I think is a good size for this quilt.  It measures 60" x 60".

But wait.  Is it really a good size?  I feel like I would like it to be just a touch bigger.  Not so much bigger to justify another round of blocks, but just a modest border.

Here's where I need your help.  Can you give me some ideas about what kind of fabric I could consider for a border for this quilt.  I don't have enough of the green background (it is Amy Butler's Bali Gate, in case you are interested).  Right now I am thinking about something of the same value, although perhaps not the same colour, so the effect is one of extending the background rather than delimiting it.  But I am open to ideas - what kind of border do you think would look nice?

I plan to back this in a nice flannel, and I am looking at this spiderweb quilt to to replace this one that no longer lives with me.  It now lives with my daughter in a tiny dorm room at McGill University.  If you think that it has been a sobfest here this past week as we wander around our house wondering where we left our hearts, you would be right.  The empty nest is a pretty rotten deal, if you ask me.