Unity--Post 12 Borders Four and Five Quilted

Skinny border four complete

For the second skinny border, I quilted it like I did the first skinny border. It was a little longer than the first skinny border so it took me more time to quilt. 

It wasn't until I was looking at the photo which showed both skinny borders that I realized how repeating the motif nicely framed the stars. Quilting this skinny border gave me the time to ponder and consider what to quilt in the adjoining border!

To start the pinwheel block border, I quilted a circle in the center of the block. Then I quilted the background. I repeated the use of quarter inch lines in the background. The lines give the pinwheels the illusion of movement.

Background lines

To stitch the lines, sometimes, I used the ruler. Sometimes, I used the foot to create the lines. Sometimes, the lines looked straight and sometimes they didn't. The bulk of the seams make it challenging to achieve the straight line. Also, moving the ruler to stitch the next line. . .well, sometimes, I did better than other times. I'm not sure how to get better results. I ripped some lines of stitching, replaced the lines of stitching and sometimes, I decided to leave the lines as they were.

Where I was stumped was how to quilt the red and the blue triangles of the pinwheel. I wanted to quilt a continuous curve because it would repeat the shape from the star legs from the previous border. I tried to talk myself out of quilting a continuous line. I thought it would be too plain. I thought the continuous line might not provide enough coverage. I thought about different ways to vary the continuous curve.

Completed block

In the end, I did quilt a variation of the continuous curve. Each curve is free motion quilted. I marked nothing. While I attempted to make the curves similar, they do vary. I like that the curves vary because it is the mark of my hand and not a computer. It is my artistry which means no one can quilt exactly like me! 

I liked the variation and would use it again. To finish, I stitched the same shapes around the circle. I liked the finished block. I liked how the straight lines gave motion in the whole border.

The next border to quilt is the neutral squares. I have a plan. Let's see how close I come to the vision in my head!

I'm linking up to Longarm Learning.

Portion of the finished border with the other quilted sections