Still working on Swoon (Giddy) baby quilt

 It's only been a day, but I have progressed nicely on this quilt. This morning I stitched all the units together  to complete the Swoon (Giddy) block and added some grey sashing. 

 I really wanted to just add a one nice big sash of grey and leave it at that- ie the swoon block floating on grey. But alas, I only had enough grey left over to do 1" of sashing around the block.

 With the small sashing I had a quilt of only of 26.5" square. So I started auditioning borders in order to push the quilt up to around 35" square. Knowing the friends that this is for I knew I should keep to the soft blue and grey colour scheme. I know, I know... hard for me right? No brights, no extra colours and no pops of red. Yikes! 

 Of course it doesn't help that most of the fabric I bought in the Picnics and Fairgrounds range does not actually have blue in it!

I came up with 3 options, and decided to audition all 3 for a day.

 Border option #1: Use up the last little bit of the two feature fabrics from the main block. Problem... not much of it left and I would end up with a really skinny 1" border.

Border option #2: Cut out the blue sections from the green/blue P&F plaid. Problem... would require a trip to Spotlight to buy some more of the plaid and this is supposed to be a stash buster project.

Border option #3: A border using the blue/white lattice print from the P&F range. Problem... too white/light? compared to the rest of the quilt.

 I got on with other stuff (you know like feeding children/housework etc) and let my subconscious mull it over.

The solution seemed obvious when I returned to sew after dinner. Option 1 AND option 3!! I added in the plaid to the two feature fabrics and this allowed me to create a 3" piano key border. The quilt will end up about 33" square, which will be a great size for a newborn baby.

I briefly contemplated throwing in some red corner posts...

But, my recipients tastes not withstanding, I decided it looks much better without.

I think I am going to have to do a mish-mash backing- you know where you just sew random bits of fabric scraps left over from the quilt top. I don't really like that sort of backing but I don't have a nice large piece of something that I can use instead.

Even this A.H. Larkspur, which goes perfectly, is a smidgen too small.

I have plenty of this turquoise bird fabric, but its just not quite the right colour.

Stay tuned!

David came into the sewing room just now and commented on the Swoon (Giddy) quilt by saying "Wow that looks nice". I think its the first time he has ever made a positive comment to me about a quilt pattern. He often compliments me on what I sew (as in; the skill shown or whatever) but without actually saying whether he likes the finished product or not. There's a difference obviously,  I know for myself that I can marvel at and be awe struck by the work other quilters do, even though I think the finished quilt is awful. I mention his comment only because the fact that he has specifically complimented the Swoon pattern has cemented my desire to make this one up as a quilt for our bed.