Border design

Grrr. Blogger in it's wisdom is showing this border swag for the quilt design in the previous post upside down. I must do more designing I enjoy it so much. It's a very calming thing to do. The bow on the right is how it will look on the corners and on the left how it does between the swags.

 It is St Swithin's Day today and tradition has whatever the weather today, it will remain like this for 40 days.

'St. Swithin's day if thou dost rain
For forty days it will remain
St. Swithin's day if thou be fair
For forty days 'twill rain nae mair.'

It is now 8.45pm and we have had no rain....... Fingers crossed for the London Olympics. I wonder if events have had to be delayed because of unseasonal weather?

My favourite bit of quilting-Designing!

This is half of what will be the centre block and it will be on point. The block size is large 21 1/2". I might add a flower in the centre....

And this is half of one of the four blocks which will surround it. (note the Dogue de Bordeaux slobber on the paper!)

Then there will be these four half square triangles, one on each side.

And the four corners.

It is based loosely on an 1883 quilt in the book Nebraska Quilts and Quiltmakers called Love Apples and Tulips, though I have neither Love Apples nor Tulips in mine. What attracted me to this quilt was it's use of colour. It could so easily have been another red and green quilt but the maker used quite a lot of blue in hers in the pots and the flowers. It literally took my breathe away.

I am tempted to make this in the colours shown in the book including using a tan/khaki which the green has faded to, but I would also like to use red and green on a blue background, or use impossibly bright prints and make it zing! (or if I don't bite off more than I can chew perhaps more than one version?),

The original quilt has a plain white border and binding. I am thinking swags and bows..... Back to my sketchbook. And I have discovered the joys of a battery powered eraser, who knew removing lines could be so much fun?