Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Mai Tai Sunrise Ready for Borders

 Jo is having a UFO finishing party for everyone working on Bonnie Hunter quilts.  The goal is to finish off an current Bonnie Hunter project before starting the new mystery in November.  So thanks to her motivation I got my Mai Tai Sunrise blocks together this weekend.  Now what should I do about borders?  I could do random strips of rainbow colors, but I'd like to kind of echo the sunrise layout.  Maybe a calming white border first?  Or maybe it should be more blendy?  What do you think?
 Here are the two individual blocks that make up the quilt.  The nine patches are just 2 inch squares sewn leader and ender style over the last couple of years.  They get framed out with rectangles of background fabric and more 2 inch squares.  The stars were a bit tricky to figure out.  Bonnie published the pattern in Quiltmaker magazine in September/October of 2012.  She did traditional cutting directions though, and I really love my rulers.  So after a bit of trial and error, I figured out that the little parts of the star points could come from 2 inch strips with the companion angle, while the big part could come from 3.5 inch strips with the easy angle ruler.  Thanks to a few Bonnie Hunter quilts over the years, I'm feeling pretty good about my ruler math.
Here is a shot from the back, mostly because I love the way quilts look with the sun shining through.  So be sure to head over to Jo's Country Junction to check our more UFO progress and then to Quiltville to look at color suggestions for the new mystery.  

12 comments:

Andee said...

It is stunning! I like the white small border idea but whatever you do will be perfect! Did you see Bonnie recently did a blog post about the rulers...wish I had that info a few years ago..whenever I do the blocks from the magazines it takes me some serious trial and lots of error, hahah! :)

Kathy's A Quilter said...

Hi there, I haven't been doing the RSC this year, but do pop in once in a while to see how it is going for you. I LOVE your Mai Tai Sunrise. I hope to be back on track for next year and spending much more dedicated time in the studio. Wishing you great success in completing a few more quilts.

Nell's Quilts said...

The back view looks like mosaic tiles. It's gorgeous. The quilt looks finished to me. Do you want borders to make it a larger size? If not, just quilt and bind. That's my two cents worth.

Nell's Quilts said...

The back view looks like mosaic tiles. It's gorgeous. The quilt looks finished to me. Do you want borders to make it a larger size? If not, just quilt and bind. That's my two cents worth.

Needled Mom said...

It looks beautiful. Congratulations on the finish.

Mary said...

Maybe a skinny white border just to stabilize the edges, otherwise it is perfect just the way it is now. A stunning project and I bet quite a sense of satisfaction to have it together.

Teresa in Music City said...

It's so beautiful Angela! I think the white border would give it a good stop before you do anything else with it, but it's hard to tell without seeing it. Sometimes borders surprise us, don't they :*)

Deb A said...

I agree with Nell - it looks finished as is! But.... a background small border and then transitional colors around to echo the quilt to look like a sunrise would look great too. I think it all depends on the size you want it to end up at. Good luck. It is a beautiful quilt.

Quiltdivajulie said...

I vote for a narrow neutral inner border (it will echo the centers of the other blocks, too).

LOVELY LOVELY LOVELY quilt top!

Angie said...

Love the front AND back views! A white border would certainly give the blocks that "floating" effect - it's one of my favorite things to add to a multicolor quilt.

Kate said...

It's gorgeous! I like the idea of a narrow neutral border before your final border.

Michele said...

Wow. It is gorgeous.