Granny's String Quilt Completed

I am so excited to have finished Granny's String Quilt this week. I am very pleased with the way it turned out and I know she would be also!

 In this close up you can see the quilting pattern - Daisy Bounce - using a variegated pastel thread and I used four different fabrics for the binding.

 I really liked the way Granny used even her leftover Christmas fabrics and threw a lot of reds in. With the thirties fabrics, they just blended in and gave a little accent to the quilt.

 Here is the back. I had several blocks that were not large enough for the front so I just made a little backart, wanting to use all her fabrics. The yellow border was also in the box with her other fabrics strings.

Here is a close up of the back showing the quilting a little better. So much fun to finish a project!! Granny would be proud of it!

Another Floating Border

Here is another quilt where I did a 'floating border', as in the previous post. You can see the full borders better. This was made as a challenge in a guild using polka dot fabrics and at least one black and white fabric. I believe these were lake house flowers in the centers then I bordered them with polka dot strips. Stitch when you can!

Floating Borders Tutorial

 This is a little tutorial on how to make "floating borders" on a quilt. Each border is the same length and the corners are not mitered. Above shows how the final border will look on each corner. You do this by starting with a partial seam on your first border, see below.

Temporarily lay the last border on the fabric or measure it's width to know how far to extend the first border past the white inner border.

 The border is pinned in place but several inches are left unsewn at the beginning, thus your partial seam. This applies only to the first border. After it is sewn, you have a finished end.

Above see the other end of the first border, sewn all the way to the end of the white inner border.

Add your second border and sew from beginning to end, as above.

I did not measure these exactly to size since they were pieced, it was hard to get an accurate measure. I left a little on the ends and then squared it up each time a border was sewn.

This picture is of the fourth border and first, ready to be joined. You can see where I had the partial first border seam still open.

Now it is pinned in place to complete the seam of the first border.

And here it is - totally sewn.

Here is the completed top with a not so good picture of the borders. Zoom in and you can see better. I was just too anxious to get these pics up I guess.

And two empty containers, meaning I had used up all my strips and fabric from two shoe boxes. 

And here is the pieced backing. I had several leftover blocks that were too small to fit on the front, therefore they became backart. I was trying to use all of Granny's strings and the yellow fabric, which was also in the container. I did add a few of my own to even it all out.

Now all that is left is quilting!!