The last time I wrote about my red schoolhouse quilt blocks, they looked like this:
Shortly after posting that picture, I went ahead and added white sashing between all the blocks, creating a small quilt top with six schoolhouse blocks.
Then I was stuck. I auditioned several red fabric borders, but didn't like the look. I also tried some red and white HST configurations, but I didn't like those, either.
I sat back and pondered my original idea for the quilt: it was meant to be a wallhanging for my sister. She has several of my quilts already, but says she doesn't have the wall space to hang them for display (forget the fact they are all bed-sized quilts and should be used on a bed - she wants to hang them, instead).
The schoolhouse wallhanging is already well over 40 inches wide, and any added borders are just going to make it bigger and more difficult to hang on a wall. What if I (gulp!) cut off two of the schoolhouse blocks and made a four block quilt?
It only took a matter of minutes to rip out a few seams, stitch up a few injured seams, and press everything into shape.
Now the red border looks fine, and the quilt is a manageable wallhanging size.
Since my inspiration quilt was hand-quilted, I decided this one should be hand-quilted as well.
After visiting one of my favorite quilting resources (Quilting with Style by Gwen Marston and Joe Cunningham), I designed a simple cable design to fit in all the sashed areas. I also worked out a fan design for the borders. Everything else will be outline quilted, with maybe some improv quilting here and there.
Now to get the quilt marked and basted. Should I start quilting it immediately or put it in the queue behind some finished quilts that need binding? Thoughts to ponder...
