Originally Posted by imjustme
Originally Posted by butterflywing
the thing about unsewing is that the fabric gets skewed out of shape. so even though it looks the nicest, is it really the best idea to take so many pieces apart? this is more than one or two pieces here. one solution may be to find another totally different fabric that coordinates and add the extra length top and bottom before adding borders. another might be to use the same solid colors in a different but coordinating pattern, like three rails across then three rails up and down, in two strips, top and bottom, before adding borders.
what is the width of the quilt as it stands now and what do you shoot for?
I just added black on the top and the bottom. Let me go check. It's 47 in across and 36 in long. I just want it longer than it is wide.
imho - i think you're on the right track here. the black would nicely separate the main body of the quilt from anything else that you add to the top and the bottom and make the whole thing look planned. now, you could add strips of the other colors and use black as the border around everything. that would make the first black inner border seem to belong there. do you ANY of the birds left? if you do, applique birds only, one in each corner. if you don't, applique leaves in each corner. it will tie everything together. if you don't have the real leaves, find similar leaves and use those. or similar flowers. it will all bring it together.
this is your grandmother. she loves you. she'll love that you wanted to make her happy. she doesn't want you to go crazy. stop beating yourself up. i'm old. you can believe me :mrgreen: