I need help with layout
 

I am doing a new quilt top for our youngest son's king sized bed. You can see I have laid it out 6 across and 7 down, but it is skimpy on the side. You can also see that it is going to be longer than the bed requires. It seems obvious to me that I make it 7 blocks wide and 6 long? Does that seem reasonable? Will I be able to add borders all around that way?

The pattern is "Attic Windows" and I wanted to put a 1" (1.5 unfinished) black sashing to make it look like wrought iron bars. Why? The cross-stitched scenes are from India where every house has wrought iron bars.

Yep I would do it 7 blocks across and 6 down. Looks nice.

I have made 2 king size quilts for my bed and both are square. Try that and see if you still have enough room to put borders I am sure you will be happy with it being square.

Instead of taking off I would add a further cross making it 7by7. Sorry for the extra work.

I really like that quilt, it's going to look great when done.

It really would not be that much extra work to make it 7 X 7, since I have the blocks cut already (not sewn, but cut). I have blank white blocks ready to add some applique or maybe even some photos, but I just needed help deciding. When I recently did the 16 patch and pinwheels for another top, I did not put the border at the top because it was already long enough. I thought that looked unfinished and wanted to be sure I had borders on four sides this time. Seven blocks wide by seven long will more than cover the top if I figure correctly, but I know "square" is better for a king.

Give me your opinion of this fabric for a border: http://www.hancocks-paducah.com/Item--i-TT-8665-NEUTRAL

I think this is 11" wide. So then outside of this border I could use the remainder of the Stonehenge fabric that is around the windows.

I like your border print - it will look great mitered!

Some time back I wrote this request for help and now I have made a bit more progress. I wanted to share what I have completed so far. I still have the borders to go, which should be peacocks about a 11" repeat with four across the width of the fabric. The back will be peacock feathers if I get the cloth I have ordered.

I know I broke a lot of "rules" in this top. My daughter tells me that it is not visually appealing if there is an even number of rows across. Well, maybe the eye can focus on the black iron bar in the center.

The bottom row looks to be warped, but that happened because of the way I am holding it. Now my question is how to quilt it. I am not able to do it by hand anymore, so what should I do with the LA?