Merry & Bright Wrap Progress

Merry & Bright Border
Merry & Bright Border

TFQ came to stay last weekend. She and I wedged a visit in even though we had a family event in the middle of her visit. One of the things *I* like to do when she is here is get her opinion about my various projects. Often I get stuck and need to move forward but seem to be unable to make any decisions. I can ask any quiltmaker I know, but TFQ knows me well enough not to suggest something completely stupid. She also often prevents me from doing something stupid because I am just tired of the project.

One of the things we worked on was the border of the It’s a Merry & Bright Wrap. I didn’t really work very hard at finding a border by myself, to be honest. I was glad, because what was in my head was not what I ultimately went with.

Possible color combo
Possible color combo
Possible color combo #2
Possible color combo #2

We auditioned a couple of color combos, including my idea, which included a white dotted inner border (no photo, sorry). I had a lot of that fabric and wanted to use it, but it was too stark as white often can be.

TFQ suggested yellow. We looked through a number of yellow fabrics until we found one that fit well with the yellow from the Merry & Bright Jelly Roll. I found the blues and yellows in this group to be off the beaten path. Interesting, but different than what I have in the fabric closet. The yellow we went with is an older commercial print and not part of that group.

I was pretty interested in using a blue/teal/turquoise color. I found the tone-on-tone in my fabric closet (left photo), but we both felt the quilt needed a bit more pattern. I liked the idea of bringing out the blues, but, since I didn’t have any large pieces of blue from the group and nothing I had was the right tone and I didn’t like the idea of having to buy and wash new fabric I used the green. I happened to see some half yards at Rainbow Resource at the EBHQ show, so I had enough.

Truthfully, we didn’t agonize too much over the colors. We did the Lorraine Torrence thing of making visual decisions visually, we picked and then I sewed them on the next night.

I used the new walking foot to sew the borders on and they are flat and I had not problems. The quilt is now ready for a back and to be quilted. My finishing seems to come in clusters!

I will probably use red for the back, since I have plenty. I don’t know if I will longarm this quilt or send it out. We’ll see.

Author: Jaye

Quiltmaker who enjoys writing and frozen chocolate covered bananas.

6 thoughts on “Merry & Bright Wrap Progress”

  1. I’m still liking the green dots; hope you are, too.

    Gotta say, though, those blocks still look like elephants to me! Perhaps it is time for me to make a visit to the zoo!

  2. TQF you are right! They look like a herd of charging elephants!

    One thing that the blue did was make one LOOK at the blue. The green was a great choice because it does not draw the eye away from the focus of the quilt – the charging elephants (he he he)

    1. I do think the green was the right choice. I think that a strong color, like the blue, would have taken away the focus of the entire quilt. The green is interesting, but also quiet.

  3. Well, on second look, they aren’t charging because their trunks are down. Maybe they are just swishing flies away (is it fly season?). Or maybe they are waving at Jaye saying thanks for bringing us to life!

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