I just posted a brief introduction, and already, I have questions! My dad called the other night and asked if I did any sewing, and if so, if I'd be interested in an unfinished quilting project of my late grandmother's/great grandmother's. Of course, despite the fact that I still haven't had time to actually sit down and practice much quilting, I was absolutely delighted at having such a treasure. So it's here now, but I'm not sure what to do with it now that I have it. The piecing is done, and the work is already sandwiched, basted and partially quilted to the batting and backing. However, there's no border, and the little quilting that has already been done simply follows the outline of the patchwork squares. So here are my questions:

1) Should I skip the idea of a border, which I'd like, and just do binding?

2) If a border is possible after the quilt is already this far along, how would I go about adding one, and would it be a ton of trouble?

3) What color border/binding would you recommend? I'm thinking red, since that's the dominant color, but I think dark blue would work, too. Not sure yet if a red border/binding would be too much red or not.

4) I'd like to dress up the quilting a little, and I was thinking of adding X's and O's to each square in a checkerboard fashion, but I'm a little worried about how that will turn out since this is not a perfectly pieced quilt and many of the squares don't line up just so. What do you think? Would it still look nice? Other design suggestions?

There are pictures of the work here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/amaranth320/

Any advice would be appreciated!

Mel

Hi Mel!

Welcome to the board!

You have a good book to start with! I had that book when I first started making quilts also.

My advice is that you take a beginning quilting class, so you get the basics down and hear lots of good advice. Even if you have taught yourself from books and magazines, one beginning class is very worthwhile.

My other comment is that you can't add a border to this quilt unless you are going to pick out the quilting, unbaste it and get a larger piece of batting and backing to fit the larger size the top will become.

Hope this is helpful and that you post pics of your quilts here in the Pictures section of the board when they are done.

Hi and welcome to the forum!

If the quilting isn't too far along, I would rip it out and then add your border and quilt it. I would use the blue border to off set all the red too.

You could use a razor blade to undo the stitches, but go slow because one quick move and you'll cut what you don't want to. This is how I ripout seams.

I'm sure others here could give you more help.

To keep it true to what Grandma did, I would just add a binding, and love the quilt as is, as Grandma made it.

Then, start making your own grandchildren's heirlooms!!!!

I'm sentimental. If the quilting already done was by my grandmother or greatgran, I wouldn't rip it out. I'd leave it for sentimental reasons and finish it like she intended with no borders. You may not think it's beautiful that way but it's authentic.

I'm with Shelley -- just add a binding and enjoy. :wink:

I wouldn't rip anything out. You can still add borders, using any of the quilt as you go or lap quilting methods. If you have an "oops" moment, you may not be able to find suitable patching material. I'd use a solid color sashing.

I seen on a program a couple weeks ago how to add a border with batting after the quilt was done. It was on America Sews on PBS. I just went to their website to see if I could find the link, but there is so much stuff there, I couldn't find it. I'll keep looking, but if you would like to here is there website: www.americasews.com

I would leave what she already did and finish it as she would have. It's her memory.
I have one like that that I bought at the thrift shop and left it without a border.
If you would like to add a border after it's finished, I would be happy to post pics on how it's done.