Putting Some Very Traditional Looking Borders Together....

I figured it was more than time to put the some borders on this quilt top. All the baskets are from Wendy's Basket Galore BOM {a very fun but wowsers, also occasionally a rather complicated exercise in making basket blocks}. After finishing, they desperately looked to be needing some companion blocks.

Getting a striped border....

I loved the look of Wendy's blocks combined with applique, so I roughed out some ideas on paper and finally came up with my own free style red and green applique blocks. I'd been wanting to make a whole red and green quilt for a very long time, but didn't have enough drive to make it happen. Working with only two or three colors in an entire quilt just seems painfully tedious to me, no matter how brilliant the outcome! I can only say that my boredom threshold must be very quite low?

And then a floral border....

I ended up trimming the applique blocks down a bit more than I had hoped for as a couple basket blocks were half an inch smaller than the intended size. Half an inch doesn't seem like much, but it resulted in cut off points on a couple baskets and almost no room around the sides of a couple applique blocks. Thankfully this quilt is more than busy enough to absorb all those little 'oops' areas!

I went with a reproduction style stripe for the inner border as it ties in very nicely with the other reproduction prints in the baskets. It my opinion, it also makes for a {striking} framework for the busy middle of the quilt, especially paired with the pieced setting triangles. The entire unit just helps to pull the eye out and then move it around the quilt, all without getting mired down in the organized busyness of the middle.*wink Whether it works or not, it sounds good!

A finished quilt top!

I know the colors in the striped fabric were a bit iffy for some people, but when the red border was added on, it fit together like it was always meant to be. That red fabric was one of the few pieces of fabric that I actually bought more than a fat quarter of all without knowing the {future} intended use--just because I was in love with it! I've tried using it on numerous quilts before and never felt that zing of perfectness until this particular quilt. Sometimes you just know that a certain fabric will be very necessary to the success of a future quilt.

So.. I have a question. Mostly because I read a very negative post awhile back that I've been wondering about.  Does the use of a small inner border and then a larger floral border always date the quilt maker {say, back to the 80's, early 90's}? Is it one of those design elements that instantly signal 'I didn't have any better ideas, so I'm using the old fallback; ie, I'm lazy'? 

Personally, I think it does sort of instantly stamp our quilt with a certain look of traditionalism because, let's be honest, it's been done to death! The thing is, like any other time honored design element, it does have its uses. I feel that, if done properly {and isn't that the elephant in the room!}, it doesn't have to look like a haphazard, lazy sort of design decision and can wrap a quilt up with a sort of very pretty bow. I'd love to know what you think and no.... I won't be getting the least bit offended if you don't agree with me!

Update: These questions are pertaining to quilts we see in general! Sorry to put you on the spot by not being clear. I am very happy to put these particular borders on my quilt and call it a good choice no matter what others might think. I'm just questioning quilts we see being made hither and yon, by friends and at shows etc. Is there a feeling of 'hmm... that was a very uninspired finish for a quilt'?