Rescued String Quilt Progress...what next?
 

I found this string quilt (with deteriorating material) in a box of fabric that my SIL gave me, though neither one of us remembers ever seeing it before. We asked throughout the family but no one claimed the unfinished project, so I took it apart and rescued the intact fabric and added material from my stash building on the colors in the original project...blues, yellows, greens, teals and black (I subtracted the red). It's currently about 45X58" and my daughter has claimed the finished quilt, but I need to make it bigger at her request. I've thought about adding a thin border (maybe 1/3 the size of the blocks) of string pieces and/or adding some applique flowers. The "floating" blocks were added with the help of my granddaughter and kept as a memento for her mom. (Thanks for the suggestion, Lynnie.)
Below are pictures of the original quilt top and it's current status. Thanks for looking and any suggestions on additional borders would be appreciated. Also, opinions on tying, "big-stitch" quilting or machine quilting would be helpful as well.

Beautiful! What a transformation.....

Beautiful!! I can hardly believe what you made from that beginning!

I agree that your transformation is a huge improvement.

It doesn't even look like the same quilt! Amazing transformation.

I like the way it is on the design wall. Sash the blocks in black then a black border. :thumbup:

Wow. The transformation is beautiful. When I saw the first picture I was dubious about a good outcome but you did a great save. I think Future Quilter offered perfect advice. I like the black sashing and border idea. If you wanted a bit of a bolder look you could put four blocks into a square and treat them as a single square with the sashing strips.

Great save! I'd take the top to my lqs and try and get a couple fabrics to match the purple and teal in the 2 polka dot fabrics used in the top. Those are the 2 that really stand out to me. I would add a narrow teal stop border, maybe 1" finished, then another black border, maybe 2" finished, then a wider (4-6" finished) border purple. That would add 10-12" to the top. Would that be large enough? You could reverse the teal and purple borders (wider teal border, narrower purple).

Thanks, PaperPrincess. I'm trying to stick to my stash for this one...I have enough of the purple for a narrow border (about the same as the black sashing). The teal polka dot was a rescue material (one of my favorites) and virtually every piece is already in the quilt. I do have enough of the teal with purple flowers for a wide border. I'll have to lay it out and see what it looks like and of course, my daughter will get a say so.

I really like the change and the violating of the border and the sashing by the falling blocks! That design element whether intentional or not looks extremely sharp!

You made a big difference in this quilt.

Nice Save! Well done!

Gorgeous!!!

Great! Great! I am so glad to see you were able to use some of the checker border. Its such a sweet addition to the original and I like the falling blocks also. Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

My 22-month granddaughter added that design element and we just had to keep it for her Momma. Maybe I should always include the little one in this step of a project...

That was a LOT of work taking the first one apart to salvage what you did.

How about a "string" border between sollid color strips?

Great imaginative save.

How about a random size piano key border. Make the border 2 times the size of the black border. Then finish with a black border and a black or scrappy binding. Luann

WOW!! What a great rescue:D

That is one beautiful save for a quilt!

I was leaning towards this approach, but my daughter said that she just wanted a single predominantly teal fabric...I think I found the perfect fabric (well, actually, it was my eagle-eyed husband who spotted it...). I showed it to my daughter and she loves it and it will work well with a plain black binding. I should have it done by tomorrow and will likely have it to the long armer by this weekend...though there is still the back to consider...

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, comments and compliments...they are all appreciated.

This his a great save. Lots of work and it is really nice looking.

I love it. You have done a really good job on the transformation.

Great redo, I love the floating blocks!

Beautiful change. Great job of saving as much as you could. This top is so much softer looking than the one with all the red. Love it.

LOVE LOVE LOVE the falling blocks. Makes for a fun rescue.

Great job!

Here's a quick picture of what it looks like with its borders. Thanks everyone for all your comments...this was a fun project.