Unity--post 11 Borders Three and Four Quilted

 

Detail of the pebble border

Since my last post, I quilted pebbles in the second skinny border. Again, I used my thimble to draw the circles. I eyeballed the placement of the circles. It takes time and thread to quilt a border like this. The texture created with this design is wonderful.

Sometimes, I like quilting pebbles because it doesn't require much thought and it allows my brain to think about what I could quilt in the next section of the quilt. When I had finished the border, I took a photo of the finished sections. I sure like the texture that the pebbles create in the skinny borders.

View of the quilted section 

The star border was the next section to quilt. I stitched a large circle in the center of the stars and added doodles. This was the same design that I quilted in the previous border.

I quilted continuous curves in the star legs. In the background, I quilted the doodle that I had quilted in the background of the center pinwheel block. I matched the thread to the fabric so the quilting would add texture and to allow the piecing of the quilt to be the star. It took me about a week to quilt each border.  I have continued to quilt about an hour to two hours each day. 

Quilting components detail in border three

Wearing quilting gloves and placing my fingers on one hand in the inside of the circle template to smooth the fabric improved the circle shape. Lowering the foot pressure to about 9 from 50 on my machine, helped also. The circles are not perfect; but, the shape is better. The seam allowance bulk makes it difficult to hold the template in place while advancing the needle. 

The next border to quilt is the third skinny border. My plan is to again quilt a combination of circles and pebbles. Repetition is good because it provides continuity of the quilting. It also means fewer motifs to quilt!

I am planning to take a little break on this project to stitch a couple pair of flounce leggings for the grandkids. Summer is about over and if they are going to get to wear them this season, I'd better get them completed! Each granddaughter lent me a pair of leggings that they like to wear so I have a sample to compare to a pattern I found through Pinterest.

I haven't had a finish for Finish-A-Long (FAL) in more than a month. I'm not doing well on my goals for the quarter! No worries, I can roll any unfinished projects into the fourth quarter for the year!

I'm linking up with Rebecca at Cheeky Cognoscenti and Longarm Quilting.

View of the project after quilting four borders