The border makes the quilt - and a few new patterns

 

I decided recently that I really needed to add borders to the tops before I hang them in the closet.  Doing the borders is definitely one of my least favorite parts of making a quilt.  I get excited with the pattern idea, selecting and cutting the fabrics.  And I love watching the blocks come together.  But then.... what to do with the border.  Ugh.  And even once you decide, sewing borders is soooooo boooooring - like driving I10 between Las Cruces & Deming (my home town).  Sigh.  The result is I end up with a closet full of tops that I can't quilt because they need a border and I'm stymied with how to finish.  I've got to stick with the tops until the borders are done so I don't have a bunch to deal with. New years resolution - ha!

This top was finished several months ago but I like it much better now with this border.  The narrow inner border adds the right amount of contrast.  And the fireworks fabric is a great match to the fun novelties.  I have found that part of the difficulty with borders for novelty quilts is finding that balance between contrast to the center and overwhelming or underwhelming the novelties.  So I'm always looking for good candidates for novelty borders.  This one works pretty well.  (Pattern is Rick rack by MSQC)

I always have LOTS narrow scraps left from fussy cutting.  So for several years I've been making them into piano key strips.  Frequently they get used in the body of a quilt but they also make great borders. After my recent push to add borders to all the unfinished tops, I now am officially out of piano keys.

Sometimes piano keys are too busy if the center is especially busy, but on this one with all the white space, I think it works exceptionally well.  

One other thing I want to note on this pattern is how easy it is with a ruler I purchased last summer.  I have made a large number of patterns that use what is called a folded corner triangle.  The typical method to construct this uses a background square, draw diagonal across the corner of the square, sew & trim.  But I've never liked the wasted background fabric, plus I never seem able to get it lined up properly.  For years I've been using oversized triangles & trimming, but still drawing the line on the base fabric.  This new ruler, called Simple Folded Corners, takes out that drawing a line step.  Instead it is marked with the seam allowance so you can just cut off that corner & sew a regular seam.  I still like sewing an oversize triangle then trim - but that's my perfectionist side coming out.  That new ruler made sewing the above quilt so quick and easy.  Some specialty rulers get used once then put away.  But this one I've already used multiple times. It is also great for snowball blocks or any block where you are sewing a triangle across a corner.

Back to borders. This nested friendship star is a repeat pattern, but still a favorite.  It works pretty well with the piano keys, but looking at this picture, I wish I had made the inner border larger or white or something.  Or maybe the chopped off stars just bother me.

This quilt is such a fun pattern.  And it is just a standard attic window block, but with half the blocks turned to form a secondary pinwheel.  I really love secondary patterns, they are like little surprises.

As a contrast, this quilt really didn't need a border at all.  It looks great with just a simple matching border, anything else would detract from the pattern.  This layout called Floating Squares is one I've made several time and one of my favorites.