The Last of the Sunburst Battles

*Still time to comment for the Giveaway! Well, it's been coming for a very long time. Sunburst is conclusively a finished quilt top! No more borders for this project. You can read about how it all began in May of 2014 and a little bit about where I parted ways with the gorgeous inspiration quilt.

The last border....

For some reason I thought this quilt had been in the works for about four years, but you know how it is when every step of the way is a question and/or a struggle. It starts feeling like a battle. Every change brought about more changes and while I was okay with that in theory, I couldn't ever 'see' my way forward with any real clarity. The reality was that this particular quilt required a lot of time to simmer, lots of scribbled ideas and wadded up pieces of paper. There could have been some hair pulling and time spent in our separate corners--I just can't remember. It always seemed like there were about a dozen different ways I could go forward and it was just up to me to determine the 'best' ones for the fabric on hand. Uh, hello? Do I look like a magician?

Trying to get a picture of the whole quilt isn't easy

I even struggled right at the end when I was getting ready to applique the corner pieces. Seriously? All of a sudden my corner pieces were just wrong and the colors of the outside border started grating on my nerves. So matchy, matchy and perhaps even dulling the quilt down? I've been trying to quit blocking {all} the corners of my borders in--take the extra effort to miter them or allow the motifs to carry around the corner. When it looks seems the appropriate choice or it starts looking like ahem! I'm just being lazy.

It should have worked. I had so carefully counted the repeats, checked and re-checked the colors of my last border applique pieces. And then one evening after some creeping depression with the fate of my last border, I had this other idea. Hmm.. What if I could find some more of that center fabric where I had fussy cut the white/black circle? Then it would {maybe, cross my fingers} tie back into the center of the quilt, bring in some of those lighter colors, and maybe even salvage the borders which were, quite frankly, starting to look kinda unnecessary.

Loving the applique center

And thankfully, after dumping out two full totes of my lighter colored stash fabric, it was there. {What are the odds?}. I only needed four fussy cut circles and wowsers, there was actually enough for five! Which pretty much made the fabric into Swiss cheese, but that's totally beside the point too. I could not believe how much it made a difference to have that little bit of 'tie-in' at the corners of the outside border. It just made everything sort of solidify and look like it actually belonged together! Not like I was trying to force another border just because I don't know how to quit. It was a very good moment, especially as I really wanted that last border to be on this quilt!

Ah.. I think it works!

So my quilt top ended up looking totally different than the inspiration quilt, although there are similarities in certain elements. Not the first time that has happened around here and it probably won't be the last. But we're okay with that, the quilt and I. Completely on speaking terms once again. Do I regret not making the inspiration quilt? Not really. While it would have been an incredible quilt to 'have', I think this one was much more interesting and stimulating to 'make'. For me. I can't be speaking for you and your process. Around here, it's all about the making, all the time....

Are you ready for April's Quilty 365 yet? I have a little stack of blocks yet to stitch, but I'm getting there!