playing with border prints
 

several years ago I fell in love with Jinny Beyer quilt that used border prints, so I've been collecting them for some time. I figured it was time to stop collecting fabric and start sewing. This is about 1/3 of what I have - I chose those that I figured would work well together.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psscvxgva1.jpg

I'm starting with the center medallion, and will work my way out and see what I end up with. I'll post progress pictures as I go.

There is no pattern to buy for the original quilt. It was in a book (The Art and Techniques of Creating Medallion Quilts, 1982) as an example of what can be done using border prints. I knew I'd never find the exact same fabrics so mine will end up quite different.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psnui2hk4a.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pss8arzz5q.jpg

Oh my, that is going to be gorgeous! I've never really know much about border fabric and what it could do. The medallion is too cool. Now I'm going to have to learn more about this new area of quilting! Please keep the pictures coming!

That looks really gorgeous!!!! These techniques remind me a lot of stack and wack’s. I’m sure the end resulting quilt will be stunning!!!

WOW! I will follow your progress!

I will also be following your progress! It'll be a wonderful eye-catching quilt! Great fabrics!!

Very lovely - I'm anxious to see how it turns out! Thank you for sharing.

Beautiful. Anxious to watch your progress.

Looking good!

Nice work!

Watson

That's amazing, Cathy. I can hardly wait to see the finished product.

Will be awesomely beautiful, to be sure. Gorgeous fabric. I love working with directional fabric.

This one will be fascinating to follow. Be sure to keep us posted!

I love your border prints. I just finished another piece called Triangle Frenzy which is a great way to use border prints & a 60 degree ruler. It’s fun to add more triangles to the ends of the basic runner making it bigger & grand.
There are some beautiful border prints but are called “border stripes” in some cases. My fav. Online fabric site is Equilter.com. Great variety & good quality. A bit pricey though.

Here is the next round. This is turning out a bit smaller than I figured, but that does not mattered as I'll keep working my way out. This is all 45 degree angles, except for the dark blue inserts as I grabbed the wrong ruler for them, but after sewing on the white they get trimmed to 90 degrees so not a big deal. Now that I have it square it's easy to figure out the size of the next round.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pstjybluwd.jpg

Pat - I also love Equilter.com. They have some of the neatest panels. I keep falling in love and buying them, have a stack now waiting to be used. I just love their exclusive digital ones.

Cathy, your work is gorgeous!!!!!! I can't wait to follow the progression. Jinny Beyer fabrics are among my very favorites.

I knew I had several JB prints, but I was surprised to see that they burgandy/navy/beige in the upper middle of my fabric picture is also JB. I know that is much older fabric, and it's such a different style than her newer ones. I'm sure I picked it up at a yard sale or thrift shop somewhere along the way.

The two outer ones on the bottom row are also JB. I have several more, but the colors didn't look good together, so I'll save them for another project.

Your quilt is sure to be wonderful. Please keep sending the photos.

Very kewl project...I can’t wait to see your progress. It’s going to be stunning...I just know it.

Just beautiful!!

I can't wait to see your finished quilt. I have some of those beautiful Jinny Beyer border prints I collected a few years back (when she had a lot of teals, greens and blues) that I just couldn't bear to use. I guess I'm afraid I won't do them justice. Maybe you'll inspire me.

Wow, and double Wow! I wish I could see this in person.

here is the start of the next round. I'm not liking this and think it's the triangle with the circle shape that is throwing it off. I think maybe swapping that out for something with darker with burgundy would be better.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psr5pg6qk2.jpg

I kind of thought it might not be the best choice to all along, but loved the circle in the triangle. I'll audition some other fabrics tomorrow. Swapping out at this point is not going to be a big deal.

Love JB's border prints. I'll be watching your progress. Thanks for sharing. BrendaK

I got the points ready, so am trying out some fabrics for the triangles. The fabrics around the outside are others I'm considering using in future rounds. The funny part, my stack of fabric I pulled out and decided not to use is about 3x the size of what I am using. I don't want to put it away yet, I keep going back to my stash and don't want to pull it out again. And I've also put a few in the "don't use" pile and then decided to bring them back to the "use" pile.

Right now my top choices are to go with the burgandy solid, or go with black. I may mess around with using mirror image triangles instead of one piece, using the black that is in the upper right corner. I've got plenty of that.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psmxiskzpx.jpg

The more I look at the pictures, the more I think I need a different center. I really like what I have and love it with the circle fabric, but that does not blend with what I've got for the rest. So I think I'll set this center aside for another project, and do something different. I also don't like the look I'm getting using the "background" fabric in the center. Makes it look like something sitting in the center of the big star, instead of being the center of the big star.

I'm learning a lot doing this, so that is very good!

Wow, this is fascinating to watch! I hardly ever stray from a plan and just 'let it go' as I create (ok, except in the kitchen maybe) so this is kind of amazing to me! I'm loving the way it looks...

Love the way your mind works and your ability to make it come to life. Thank you for sharing your progress.

Looking great. I think you're right about the centre. Perhaps if the white spots had been neutrals?

It's going to look great.

Watson

This is going to be fabulous. I am always intrigued by creating a kaleidoscope effect with fabric and doing it with border prints really adds some extra pizzazz. How much yardage of border fabrics do you buy for a project like this? Or did you purchase them to use as borders?

The few that I have in my stash (all of 3!) one I have set aside to use as the border for a project and I bought enough yardage to cut it LOF but the other I picked up to do some experimenting like this and only have a couple yards of that. The 3rd one I picked up at an estate sale so only have one yard of it and my plan for that one is to cut it like you did for a some centers in MC stars.

There are some gorgeous border prints out there, especially Jenny Beyer as she also likes to use them for piecing. I look forward to watching your progress on this very ambitious and inspiring project.

I too have been collecting border prints, and also stripes which can be used similarly. I haven't found the pattern to inspire me to using them, but I'll be following you for inspiration! I do think I'll be looking for something much more simple. With the fibromyalgia cognitive issues, I'm not sure I could handle something very complicated.

feline fanatic, I've bought an assortment of yardages, depending on if they were on sale or not. I've got 2-3 yards of some, and as little as 1/2 yard of others. Jinny's prints are really easy to work with becuase they are mirror images, so you can cut both directions and have a lot less waste. I love scrappy quilts so don't worry about "waste" as the will get used up somewhere. I used up most of my scraps this spring, and figure I'll do the same next spring - make a few scrappy quilts to use up the scraps from the non scrappy quilts I made.

Here is my new center. I actually like the first one better, except when I put it with the other fabrics. I'm going to save it for the next one.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psrnjz3jwu.jpg

This one should work well as I add more of the burgundy, and the blue is from the other border fabric so it will match well when I add more of that in a later round.

those extra dark points are not sewed on. They'll get added as I put together the other sections.

Wow. Love your center. Can't wait to see more of the work in progress.

Oh YES. Getting better all the time. This is what I call a "WOWZER QUILT".

Stunning so far..... It's fun peeking into your studio as you create magic.

Working on the next round. I am doing it mirror left and right, so fitting one side and then cutting the other to match. The cornerstones go in the major points, and they overlap the next border. Will have to wait until that one is on to figure out what size they need to be. This is ending up a lot larger than I was after, but that will just mean I don't have to put as many outside borders on to get to the finish. And that is not really a bad thing. . .

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pswtrdddqa.jpg

here is today's work. The next round will be blue. I think I made the long points either too long, or too wide at the base. Things to keep in mind for the next one.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psnji9mkvb.jpg

Wow this is going to be fantastic!

Here it is with the next border. Took about 5 hours to get those setting diamonds figured out. I want to add another 15" to the sides (each side) and 10" to the top and bottom. I think there is enough room in the corners to do a corner design, but I'll have to think about that a while.

The flash is messing up the colors, they actually go much nicer together in person.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pso7shfd2k.jpg

Can't wait to see your finished quilt. It looks great so far.