Tulip Fields

 Goodmorning!

I am training for a half marathon in June and yesterday I ran 4 miles with my beautiful doggies! That run was pretty easy, compared to beginning this quilt! 

Now, what I mean by difficult was the creative juices to start this beauty. It took me two days to figure out a design for the border! I was on Pinterest looking up ideas and saving them to my "quilting" board. I finally came across one, and I have to admit I was a little nervous to do it! And then I sat down and analyzed it, and I realized that it was just straight lines and a few curves! All of which I have rulers for. :)

I first found the center of the border. Then I divided the border into thirds and made a point at the 2/3 mark from the bottom. This 2/3 mark is where I made my first curve to. What I did, because we all like continuous lines, is start at the bottom left corner of the top border and made my way across the quilt, then when I finished at the bottom right of the top border I came down 1/4" and went back across the quilt. I continued to do this until all of my lines were complete. Then I began the filler (pebbles and feathers). After I completed my arcs I then found my mark at the center and began my straight lines for the background. The straight lines are 1/4" apart with a 2" spacer. I believe that this gives good contrast to the border and allows the eye to rest.

 As you can see from the picture below, the quilt is made up of log cabin blocks.

The lighter part I wanted to fade into the background so I made it all the same filler. The darker pink stood out to me, so I knew I wanted something a bit more special in there.

Bump Feathers! I love doing feathers! They are relaxing to quilt for me. Carrying both the feathers and pebbles from the borders into the quilt compliments all designs.

 You can't see much in the tulips but there are swirls in there, and the leaves needed something so they got a little swirl too.

 Here is a close up view of the inside...

 

 One last picture... :)

 So there you have it! It is okay to try new things! When you have a busy border it helps boost confidence in your design technique.  I hope this gives you inspiration to try new things! Now... off to run! Enjoy your day and happy quilting!