First off, I think it's very pretty. I've always loved the tulip quilts.

I'm going to agree with everyone that I think a border would be great to finish it, but I'm not going to agree with the blue. I didn't actually count the tulips, but you do have a lot of blue already in the quilt. Blue is an incredibly tricky color, it can illicit feelings of happiness, but it can also bring a person down and 'give them the blues', I think that might be the problem for you, the blues you have in this quilt are muted.

Quilting is already a challenge, sometimes we find ourselves not liking a quilt because of the colors we chose and usually not the reason we believe it is, i.e. for the overall look of the quilt. Color plays a huge role in our moods and emotions; too much red makes us excited, the wrong shade of gray makes us sad, etc. etc. Red and green together actually pulls my holiday blues out in the middle of July and I'm panicking and full of anxiety until I go find other colors to look at (usually an ocean blue, that calms me down). My family actually does not like shopping for fabric with me, because of my visceral reaction to red and green. By themselves, I don't have a problem, but put them together and I'm a mess. Like hyperventilating, uncontrollable shaking kind of mess.

Might I suggest something different. Maybe yellow or even a yellow-orange, bring it up to someplace 'sunny', if you're following my direction (I hope so, lol). Find something away from the palette you've already created and bring something in that is happy or joyful. I think once you do that, you're going to find your mood shift will actually help you come around and you'll love the quilt again.

I like the quilt. However, if I really didn't like it, I'd donate it. You could donate it to a charity like Project Linus which makes quilts for children in foster care. There are charities that make quilts for cancer patients, dialysis patients, African Children, homeless women, soldiers and many more that I am not knowledgeable of. They would be happy to take the quilt and finish it.

Then, there are the general charities which operate thrift stores. Here, there are thrift stores that take items and resell them and either give the proceeds to charity or use them to fund their own programs like the Salvation Army. Catholic charities is another organization that operates thrift stores here. Someone will find the quilt and enjoy completing it in that type of store.

bkay

It's a pretty quilt!
Looks like I'm the oddball. Lol. ​​​​​​Personally, i would use a darker aqua than in the quilt. Even a darker peach would look good. And i like the black too! I just think a darker border would make the colors pop more since it's more of a contrast. 😁

I agree with Sharon that the border should be darker, not the bright aqua in the picture - that may draw too much attention and flatten out the colors of the tulips more.

What I would consider doing is to perk up the tulip colors via visible quilting, investing in some 40 or 30 weight thread in a stronger/darker shade than each of the main tulip colors - and either outline just inside the shape and/or do curves to create petals. That would brighten all of it, I think, and make the tulips stand out more against the white.

Once that was done, I'd be giving the white sashing the evil eye, in view of using pastel quilting threads to interrupt them up a bit and make them less flat. I'd go pale with that. It will add color and texture without shouting.

hugs,
charlotte