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Blog Hops and Quilt Alongs

Border Quilt Quilt Along Week 1

September 12, 2018July 8, 2020 8 comments

Hi friends!

This is week 1 of the Border Quilt Quilt Along. The quilt was designed by Jen Shaffer of patterns by jen. For her quilt, she is using the Enchanted Forest line from Northcott. You can check out her quilt here.

Week 1 is about the center of the quilt. You can either make the center pieced or use a big piece of fabric. maybe a panel? I pieced mine but I had to make some adjustments to make it work for the fabric I had on hand.

Back in this earlier post, I mentioned the fabrics I am using for the Border Quilt. I am using up fat quarters that I have collected over the years and a little bit of yardage where needed.

I started with these fabrics for my center. Love this stack of fabrics. It was hard to cut into them as they looked so pretty!

fat quarter stack
Fabric Stack

 

When I opened up this fabric, I found it was a gradation. Very cool. 

gradation fabric
Gradation!

 

I decided to stick with the coral part and fussy cut a couple of pieces for 2 sides of the center square. 

block center
Center with fussy cut

 

I debated the center color for a while. I could not decide if I wanted it to be dark or light. In the end (obviously) I went with the darker color. I thought a lighter color might get lost and then center would not be as effective. 

I guess we will see when it is done if I chose correctly!

Then I added the rest of the center until I got to the last round. I could not add long strips to this round as my fabric was only a fat quarter. And since then I would be trimming it down anyway, I figured I could do it another way.

I measured the square thru the center to the size I needed and trimmed. 

Measuring the quilt center to trim

 

After cutting the other ends, I was left with a rectangle with it’s corners missing!

trimming to size
Second cut of center section

 

I figured out what size pieces to cut for the corners and added them. 

finishing up the center block
Adding a corner rectangle

 

Then I trimmed the corners to size.

finishing the corners
trimming the corners

 

Voila! It worked!

center of Border Quilt
Center section

My center was done. 

What do you think of the center? Do you like the dark square in the center?

In 2 weeks we will be showing off the next set of borders in our Border Quilt. Be sure to pop back here then.

In the meantime, if you decide you want to play along, pop over to Jen’s website to get the pattern and grab some fabric and get started. It won’t take long to catch up!

happy quilting!

Kate

Border Quiltfat quarter friendlyquilt along
About Kate

About Kate

Hi! I'm Kate Colleran, a designer who creates quilt patterns, fabric and surface designs. I lecture and teach about quilting. Welcome to my online home!

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8 comments

  1. Stephanie says:
    September 14, 2018 at 1:48 pm

    This is going to be a fun version of the Border Quilt.

    Reply
    1. Kate Colleran says:
      September 19, 2018 at 8:16 am

      Thank you Stephanie! I had fun pulling fabrics for this!

      Reply
  2. Vicki Holloway says:
    September 12, 2018 at 5:35 pm

    Love the dark center! You have a very pretty quilt started too!

    Reply
    1. Kate Colleran says:
      September 19, 2018 at 8:17 am

      Thank you Vicki! I like the dark center too. Sometimes you make these decisions and then wonder- did I pick the right way to go?

      Reply
  3. Jen Shaffer says:
    September 12, 2018 at 1:14 pm

    Very cool center unit! I love that dark pop in the middle. Thank you for joining the quilt along!

    Reply
    1. Kate Colleran says:
      September 19, 2018 at 8:18 am

      Jen,
      Thank you for a fun pattern! It will be interesting to see all the quilts evolve!

      Reply
  4. Becca // Pretty Piney says:
    September 12, 2018 at 1:08 pm

    So pretty! I do like it with the dark center. I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out!

    Reply
    1. Kate Colleran says:
      September 19, 2018 at 8:18 am

      Thanks Becca! Me too!

      Reply

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Dreaming In Color

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