Creative Borders and Bindings

This month’s challenge was to make a quilt with creative borders and and binding.  I wanted to use the Whispering Feathers 2 1/2″ strips that were designed by Kathy Engle.  In order to do that, the main fabric in my borders could not be wider than 2 1/2″.  No limits however on the background fabric.   I used a neutral background called Almond.

The Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star ruler by Studio 180 Design was perfect to create a 9″ Lemoyne Star center.  The star is made using 2 1/2″ strips and the background strip was cut 4″ wide.  What I love about the Studio 180 rulers is that they make your quilting so accurate:  you always make your units larger and then trim them down to perfection.

 

The end result is a great looking Lemoyne Star!

Background strips were added  around my star to give it a floating look and so that  I could adjust the size.  The first border round was made with the Square²  tool.

The Square² ruler makes units from a 1″ square to a 6″ square going up 1″ at a time.  A new tool just released by Studio 180 Design now makes the 1/2″ increments, and there is a Large Square² that goes up to a 12″ finished block in 1″ increments.  What ever your designing desire, Deb Tucker and her Studio 180 Design team have you covered.

I made 2″ Square² units and surrounded them with 1″ x  2″ Flying Geese units  made with  the Wing Clipper I tool also by Studio 180 Design.  I love the zig zaggy look the two units made together.

I used a coordinating fabric to surround the first border, and used the Diamond Rects tool to make 2″ x 4″ diamonds for the next border.  I again surrounded the diamond border with a strip of the colored fabric.

For the last border I used leftover strips from the Lemoyne Star that I used for the center of the quilt.  By putting 2 quarters together, I got straight rows and could go around the corner using 3 quarters of the Lemoyne Star.  I love the versatility of this block.

After adding a final border strip the ending size of the quilt was 39″ x 39″:

I pieced and quilted using Aurifil  thread and Schmetz  needles.

I had a lot of fun with the quilting – always one of my favorite parts – using some rulers and free motion work.

Finally, I added a flange to the binding.  I sewed a 1 1/2″ colored strip to a 1 1/4″ binding strip.  After pressing I used wonder clips to hold in place and sew to the back of my quilt, opposite of what you would normally do.  Next I brought the binding to the front and sewed it down with an edge stitch foot (#10 on a Bernina).

This will be a great little table topper .  I hope you enjoyed this project.  Stay safe, stay home, stay creative.