Finished the inner top. Put on two borders and still have one border to go this gigantic quilt (finishing at 105″ square). What was I thinking?
I was thinking I loved the colors, the sparkle of the brights, and the use of solids.
This picture is titled Border Fail. They sent me 2 5/8 yards of Blue Coal (it’s a nighttime photo, so all the colors are wacky), and after dinner I was tired but wanted to push on to finish the quilt. So I came upstairs and whack, whack, whack started cutting crosswise strips to piece together for the outside border. After I’d cut about half the strips, I realized they sent me enough to do a lengthwise cut for that outside border, which would really stabilize the quilt. I slumped into my chair, and yes, got all teary about how dumb I was. I was tired. My husband said some “there, there, theres” and I ordered a new swath of Blue Coal from an online shop, which should be here by the end of next week.
Lessons learned: husband is a gem, mistakes can be made, especially if I’m tired, and beware of cutting after dinnertime. I’d already put on the first inner border, and the little squares border. Now that’s an exercise in frustration. Those squares NEVER fit, so you go back in and stitch another 1/16″ of a seam on a few squares, inching it down to fit. If you want to see what I’m working toward, here’s a photo of Amish With A Twist–II:
Here’s Amish with A Twist–Version I, and it’s really big, too.
Found this on the web when I went searching for ideas on how to quilt my quilt. Which won’t be done until NEXT week now.
So the center of my version, Amish With A Twist-2, is this lighter set of fabrics, so that would call out for beige or cream or light gray or something. But then the outer is darker, so that indicates black or dark gray. And I’m having this done by my long-armer, and to keep it affordable, I’ll probably do an edge to edge design.
This quilter had hers done in colorful variegated thread, which she showed on another page. That’s certainly an option, as it does melt into the light-colored fabrics. But I’m not too crazy about how it looks on the dark black. My version doesn’t have that dark black thing, so maybe it will be okay. What would you choose? Road to California is coming up in a couple of weeks and I can pick up some Superior Thread there. Any ideas?
And if you are going to Road to California, want to try for a meet up–say Friday, late afternoon? That will give the out-of-towners time enough to get there, and by then, I’ll be ready to call it done for the day. If you are going, leave a comment, and we’ll figure out a place. Possibly near the ice cream cones. Or cookies.
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OccasionalPiece--Quilt! 
I can honestly say this is THE most beautiful Amish quilt (any quilt!) I have ever seen! I have no suggestions on thread colour- I’m sure you and you quilter will solve that!
WOW—That is one gorgeous quilt. I think I will need to put that on my lifetime “to make” quilt list. Must have! I think I would go with grays for quilting thread–it can go with the darks and the lights fairly well…..but that’s a tough choice. Good luck. It will be fabulous no matter what color it is quilted in.
What a beauty! Have fun at Road to California, wish I could go
I wish I could go to Road to CA and meet up with you. The quilt is grand. I don’t know what thread would work, but I know I have fun laying threads on the quilt top with the long-armer to choose the color. I think Linda might be right about a gray thread.
Oh my heart Elizabeth! This is stunning. I love your version and can’t believe the amount if piecing! Wow. Just wow.
So inspired. I learned something from you…thanks for sharing. I need to get back to mine. Love it.
Impressive!
I love your quilt, did you pick out each fabric or follow a pattern with colours? I think this is one of my favourites of the quilts you have made so far. And think of all that wonderful fabric you have now from the failed borders for another project. I sure wish I could come to the quilt show, maybe I should plan that for another year.
Amazing and fabulous all at once! Wow Elizabeth, I love this quilt.
Hi Elizabeth, l have recently finished this quilt top too. It is at the longarmers at the moment! I went for a thread colour called slate, which was a medium grey with a bluey purple tinge to it. It blended nicely with the mediums and darks and wasn’t too shouty on the paler bits. l look forward to seeing how you deciede to quilt yours,
Best wishes Sally.
Very very beautiful Elizabeth. I love the modern wist to the Amish tradition. And I so relate to your “late night, tired, should have done this earlier” I don’t do well later in the evening either and am much much more prone to mistakes too. Wish I could come to Road to California. It would be so much fun to hang out with you.
Incredible. I really enjoy looking at this quilt, and thank you for sharing it.
As to thread color, perhaps consider lavender. It would read greyish but not grey, and would melt into the pastels, too.
Like Suz, I agree that this is probably the prettiest Amish quilt that I’ve ever seen. I am very impressed with it, you should be so proud! I might call it a lifetime achievement quilt! That being said, if it were mine, I would probably hold off on having it quilted until I was sure on the thread (the lavender idea was intriguing).Like you, I’m not partial to having light quilting on a dark background unless it is particularly wonderful quilting. Two colors of thread would be my choice…maybe saving my pennies for a custom design. Whatever you decide, it will be lovely no matter what!
Ohh what an amazing quilt!
Great colors and pattern! I like the idea of a variegated thread.