I just finished my first Sampler Quilt. I've been sewing for almost a year and a half and decided to make a Sampler to work on some skills I haven't tried yet. I made the borders extra large to accomodate a scalloped border and I was thinking of adding some Benicia Rose Applique but I'm not sure. What do you think?

I think the applique would look really nice, just be careful on placement, since you're planning an scalloped border, you don't want to go thru all the effort, just to have to cut it off. oops...

Beautiful top.

That's why I made the borders extra wide. They're 10" borders and the widest part of the applique is 3" so I was thinking of making the applique pieces swirl nearest to the quilt blocks and then do a scalloped border a few inches from there. I was also thinking of tracing out the scallops so I would know where to place the applique but just not sure. :?

I think the applique will be a nice addition to the plain borders.

Wonderful work! You are to be congratulated. The border idea sounds great. Would you use the same reds for the flowers and green or maybe tans for the stem and leaves?

Beautiful!

Your quilt is beautiful.

I think the applique would look lovely, and really enhance the quilt top.

I just have to say this - and I mean no offense - but before you do the applique, please make sure your borders are correctly attached and the correct length....I don't know if it's the picture, but it looks like there is a lot of extra fullness in there.

As you said in your post, you did the sampler blocks to work on some skills. Learning how to properly measure and attach borders is soooooo important. I really can't stress it enough.

I would hate for you to do all that beautiful applique, quilt the quilt, and find out your borders have the topography of the Rocky Mountains. You can't go back and fix it later.

A sampler quilt book might have very generic instructions. I'm sure you can do a search on the board - I did very quickly, but some of the suggestions weren't great, and could lead to even wavier borders. It's so important to understand how do to it correctly.

Feel free to PM me if you want, and I can write out the correct way to do it, and post it here. But you don't just slap them on and sew, not after all that hard work.

I love your fabrics.....I am partial to red. You did a great job. I like the idea of the scalloped borders too. Thanks for sharing. Please post a pic when it is finished.