Ribbons and Stars – Part 2

I am happy to report that I completed the Ribbons and Stars quilt in time for the wedding.

In my last posting about this quilt, I had just finished assembling the inner portion of the quilt top and needed to come up with a plan B for the inner border. My original intention was to use the gold fabric as the narrow inner portion but alas, the entire amount of that fabric was used in creating the ribbons. My next thought was to come up with a fabric that might possibly match the purple or green colors that appear in two of the other fabrics. This of course meant a road trip to my favorite quilt store where I pondered my options.

After comparing sundry shades of purple, I realized that color was not going to work with the blue and turned my sights toward the green section of the store. I pulled out various shades of green, from bright lime green to forest green, and held them next to the quilt. I really wanted to go for something a bit different; something a little more bold than what I would normally select. Unfortunately that didn’t work either. I finally found the perfect shade of green to finish the quilt. It wasn’t until I sent a picture of the fabric to my daughter that I discovered it was a fabric I have used many times before. I have used that particular print in purple for my daughter’s wedding quilt, in gold for another wedding quilt, in pink in another quilt and in 9 different shades for a Sudoku quilt. This particular print seems to be my go to fabric when I need something subtle to tone down the other fabrics. I suppose when something works you should just stick with it.

Once I had the fabric for the inner border, I was able to finish the quilt assembly. The next step was to begin the hand quilting. This is where I kept a close eye on the calendar. It was March and I essentially had 2 months to complete the quilt. I figured if I spent a few hours quilting every day I might just make it. My plan was to outline the blue stars, stitch a star in each of the red blocks and connect the blue stars with galaxies that emanated from the center of each star. By the middle of April, I had completed quilting the inner portion of the quilt. I am happy to report, that all hand quilting was finished by the middle of May. Another week to finish the binding and it was done.

The couple seemed pleased with their wedding quilt. May the use it in good health.