Progress on The Morningstar Quilt - Borders

This Morningstar Quilt has been stalled out for a couple of years now. Even during the pandemic, I couldn't bring myself to work on the background fills of the applique blocks to finish them off.  So I set that aside in favor of the outer borders, hoping inspiration might strike as to a solution for those forever backgrounds.

 

This is how I worked it up in You Doodle Pro, where I can draw on a photo, to get an idea of how the stitching might look.  I never intended to use a green thread -- It just showed up better here.

Here it is stitched out.  One pass in the purple, and a second pass with the tangerine thread.   The thread colors were meant to be subtle.   You can see I was using the black "beads" in the border as landmarks for the larger loops.

 It's probably easier to see from the back, with those interlocking loops.  The second smaller set of loops was fund to do -- The larger loops were a bit too big -- I'd get lost moving from 1 black bead to one on the other side. But I made it work.

Here are the undulating waves in the black border, stitched out with red thread.

Next Steps:

I could move on to the binding, but I still need to finish the backgrounds on the corner applique blocks. 

Diamonds and Pearls on The Morningstar Quilt

                                                        The Morningstar Quilt, pin-basted

This quilt has been on hold for the past 2 years.  Sometimes on a colossal project like this, you need to set it aside and take a break until the joy comes back.  Today was blessedly cool enough that I could be upstairs in my sewing studio doing the free-motion quilting on it again ...  Also I'm between projects, so it's a good time to pick this one back up again.

Today I stitched the red ribbons in the background of all the applique blocks.  The side triangles were already about half done, so I finished those today with a little more stitching -- mostly black pearls in the background -- very stealth.     The object was to make the applique POP!  The background stitching is subtle, and very hard to photograph.  It looks much better in person.  Here the threads look washed out when in reality, the thread is red, purple and blue to match the applique.    You can't really see it, but I used black thread to stitch pearls / bubbles around the red ribbon--again I wanted the black to stand down so that the red ribbon would stand out more.

I'm still not quite sure what to do with the corner blocks.  Perhaps some echo stitching around the flowers?  I don't think it needs to be as dense as the side triangles.  I am not fond of sleeping under a quilt that is so densely quilted that it might be mistaken for a carpet.

Large corner applique block, with ribbons. The space needed something to showcase the applique, without taking away from it.

While I think about how to finish those corner applique blocks, I worked on the first "row" of the border.  I used the diamond motif in the fabric.  The small square in the middle pops out once it's all said and done.    You can't really see it in the photograph, so here it is from the back:

Quilting Hollyhocks Around the Barn Step 6: Chicken Wire Borders

 

At some point in the last 10 years, I found this great chicken fence fabric that turned out to be the perfect border for the Hollyhocks quilt.

I've been thinking about how best to quilt the borders ...  a 3-ply Celtic border?  A diamond grid?

I even considered following the turquoise chicken wire grid pattern on the fabric, but decided that there would be too many places to stop and turn.  

  

I paged through some of my quilting motif books, and finally settled on this pattern.  It kind of looks like chicken eggs.  I guess Easter is coming ...

The practice  piece -- consider it a warm-up.  A chance to figure out what path to take.

I marked out the borders with a chalk line dividing the space in half, then  marking every 2 inches.  This is sort of like the lined paper we used in 2nd grade when we were learning to write in cursive.

Then I started stitching out the loops on the outside, then a round doing the inside loops, and then "shells" on the outside and then the inside ...   Borders are easier to stitch out because you are not wrestling so  much with the bulk of the quilt.

 

Just to remind you what the overall quilt looks like ...

I still need to go back and fill in the dark flower stalks and the cream backgrounds between all the flower heads.  Still deciding what will work in that space.  

 

 

I was stitching along, making good progress with just a few feet to get to the end -- when the machine paused a bit ...   I turned it off and on again ...  and continued on my merry way ...  until it paused again, made an odd noise, and I could hear something let loose inside, and maybe a screw falling down inside the machine ... and then, no more sewing.  If I put my foot down on the pedal, it would rev up, and go-go-go, but the needle didn't move.  Maybe the belt broke?  I only had about 3 more feet to go to finish that last round of shells on the border ...

I have to admit:  I got this machine in 2016 after my aunt died, and I have not taken it in for maintenance at all.  I know: It's supposed to go in once a year, but it's such a tremendous hassle to tear it all down and pack it up to go to Appleton where the maintenance guy in on a circuit, and only shows up every 6 weeks (or so) ...   It means about 3 months without it.  How's that for a good reason to avoid regular maintenance.   But now I can't avoid it.  It is well and truly broken now.  Fortunately, I have a spare -- the identical same machine I purchased from my mother when she upgraded to her fancier new embroidery machine.    So-- I was able to tear down and set up the other machine and finish the border.  Hurray!  But I do have to find the repair person in Appleton, explain what's wrong, haul it up there and then wait ...  and wait some more.  It's not just a quick trip across town and done, which means I won't be able to deliver it until next weekend.  More waiting.  I know -- It could be worse.

Good news!  Ana's Sewing Center in Appleton said they can take it, and do the repairs locally with a 5-10 day turnaround time.  Yahoo!  But I still won't be able to get it there until the weekend.