And the saga continues . . .

18 comments
More on this bird quilt- By the time I finish "In the Leafy Treetops" and debut the pattern and quilt everyone will be a bit tired of this quilt. Oh well. I can't remember the last time I had this much trouble with a quilt coming together. I hope this is like bad rehearsal, good performance. When I started putting my blocks together I realized I needed to resize the whole quilt. So I had to make 8 more birds or 2 groups of 4 birds. I was going happily along until I RAN OUT OF RICK RACK!!!
Can you see here there is like an inch without it. Which wouldn't be a problem, I would hide it with a leaf. But I have one other block of 4 birds with no rick rack at all. I'm less than a 1/2 yard short. And normally it would be no big deal, I'd go out and buy matching rick rack. But I am having trouble finding the color. Its a rusty brown. Its a great color and I had gobs of it but over time I've used it all and who knows when I bought it or where. I have called quilt stores in my area and even thought I found some. My great husband went on his lunch hour to Thimbles and Thread in Draper to pick some up and when he got home we were both sad to see it's just too dark.
You can see here its more than one shade off. Its so brown its almost black. The rick rack on the quilt is more of a light milk chocolate with some red thrown in. I have been searching the internet without finding an exact match yet . I think its 3/8" or something close to that. Rick rack is hard to measure width (at least for me) but its less than 1/2". I'd even take some off size if I could locate the color. I'm thinking of expirimenting with bleach? No? I haven't given up yet. I'm going to continue the search. I have ordered bits from several sites and its hard to know if they will match yet or not. So far nothing has looked 100%.

In the mean time you can see my borders I decided upon. This is final. No one try to talk me out of it. I liked what Pam said about changing up my original idea and going with something geometric. The inner border is this tiny lattice geometric from a new line by Deb Strain. The outer border is perfect. I gave up trying to match birds because I just couldn't settle on anything and discovered this blue fabric with leaves that I fell in love with. It has the greatest "feel" to it and it makes the birds pop. I am really happy with it. You'll have to guess where I got it. Hint: Its not vintage and its an import. The leaves have a modern/retro appeal all at the same time. I wasn't going to show the border until I had the quilt put together and ready to take to my quilter, Wren. But now I'm in a tizzy about this rick rack so it puts things back a bit. Such problems! I should be so lucky that this is my worst one!

-nanette
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18 comments

Kim West said...

I love the border fabric you have chosen for your quilt -- the birds are just so cute!!

Joanna said...

oh yes, that border fabric is divine! Just perfect. Of course it made too much sense to use a leaf fabric. Geesh what were we thinking?! lol! Can't wait to see it done. And here's crossing fingers that you get the ric rak! If you don't, then just pretend you're Amish and make sure there is a mistake somewhere in the quilt on purpose. Use a totally different color ric rak - maybe green? Make it look like you did it that way on purpose :)

PamKittyMorning said...

Dang it, lost my first comment. I love the border and inner border fabric. Birds would compete wtih your birds I think. For the rick rack I'd just put leaves over that spot or take that row of rick rack off and use something else.. and move on. That's what I'd be doing.

Anonymous said...

LOVE the border! Those birds are livin' large with that border. I just saw it at a favorite online haunt. My border would have to be wee. :-)

Unknown said...

Perfect! I love it!

Sarah and Jack said...

Well, since Wrights is the king of trims, maybe try calling them directly? (I am not even sure I can buy new ric rac around here that isn't made by wrights...)

Ginger Patches said...

Yay you found perfect border fabric!!! You could take the ric-rac off of a couple of other blocks and use the different color on those also and then it wouldn't be like just one different block. Of course when you look at antique quilts they often have one random block.

Yummers! said...

I love the quilt with the birds and love, love, love the quilt with the rows of little dresses. Yummy!!

The kitchen rug is adorable. I really like the background fabric. Do you have a name/manufacturer for that??
Thanks for the wonderful sharing and inspiration.
Joni

Thimbleanna said...

You are so right Nanette -- that border fabric is just perfect!!! And the quilt name -- priceless!

Stacy said...

Nanette, Your borders are perfect! Like the other ladies said, if you cant find the brown, just throw in some green or blue. It is hard when you had it all worked out then something little like that throws off your whole image though. I know you'll figure it out. Can't wait to see more. Love Stacy

Joanna said...

I hate it when you run out of something and then can't find the right color. That happened to me once with yarn, and they had stopped making it, but now they make it again. Just keep your eyes open, and I'm sure you'll eventually find something that matches. Best of luck! Love the borders, by the way!

Darlene said...

I'm so sorry to read about the rick rack problem. I do love the border fabrics - yummy and perfect.

erica e said...

the border is looking perfect! great choices.
once you get this quilt finished you'll love it all the more for these little difficulties you've had while making it. (atleast tell yourself that while you are agonizing.)

Oiyi said...

Love the birdies! This is going to look so great.

jen said...

Nan I knew you would find just the perfect border prints and of course of you did. These are better then bird material. I'll keep my eye out for rick rack I am in Vegas tending Jen's kids while they are in CanCun . Can't wait to see the finished product.

jen said...

I am using Jen's computer so my comment is under her name

Kim Walus said...

When I look for a border fabric at stores I always get a lot of suggestions but when I see the fabric match the vision in my head it's a beautiful thing. I love that part of creating!

You DID It!! Can't wait to see it done! Don't let the rick rack stop you now. I like what other's said about using a different color but, you have the ultimate vision in your head! ;-)

jenny said...

thanks for all your nice comments on my blog! this quilt looks very cute so far - love your fabrics on the page. the leaf fabric is terrific - a nice blend of colors! I was tempted to get some for myself off superbuzzy after seeing it...but must. try. to. resist. buying. more. fabric...