Feeling Blue

Very much.

My mood matches the buckets of rain that fell here for a good part of the afternoon.  My darling grandson left today; as I type he is starting his downward descent back to his home in Alberta.  :-(

We had a fabulous 8 days, however.  Those memories will become less painful and more heart-warming once the grief of parting eases.

He LOVED his new Christmas quilt. 

 Never mind 'future fighter'; he's a yogi already!

Now it's a cape, Nana!

I asked his mother, my daughter, Brianne, if she would like a new quilt, and if so, what colours.  She replied that she doesn't really like quilts.  Brady said, "I LOOOVE quilts!  How do you make them, Nana?"  See?  Darling.

I sewed a grand total of 10 minutes while they were here, and those 10 minutes were only when I was spending a little time with poor Bella, who was relegated to the basement the entire time due to his severe allergies to cats.  Don't fret; this is her favourite place, so it wasn't too much of a hardship, really.  Her new toy, the prize she won in the Pets on Quilts contest, arrived, so she had fun.  I'd take a pic of her with it, but I cannot find it!  She's batted it somewhere down there, but find it I will for a picture for sure.  She loved it.

Here is how I am constructing the 4-patch border:

Notes the many pink/mauve squares yet to be unpicked...

Since I am putting the 4-patches on point, I drew myself a little diagram so I can mindlessly (ha, story of my life these days) sew the triangles to the 4-patches with the correct orientation.  I'm alternating a pink with a purple square pointing towards the quilt body.  I want the dark purple to form the chain, so it's important to orient these correctly!

These get offset as you see in the picture above, sewn into pairs, the pairs into fours, and so on, to create a border.  I had one border done before they arrived....which brings me to the other meaning of blue in my post title.

I want a little zing of blue, a nod to the blue sky over a flower garden, as well as a little, well, zing, or punch, to the inside of the 4-patches.  I intend this to be a 1/2" frame much like the one setting off the "fleurs" round.  I did try three different fabrics.  I'm thinking the bottom blue in the photo below:

The first is a strip of dark purple, but I'm thinking it blends into the dark greens too closely.  The next blue is a little green in tone, so it doesn't quite do what I want, although I do like the subtlety.  The bottom one is the one I'm leaning towards.  Sadly I do not have enough of the blue I used for the centre of the purple flower in the appliqué.

I'd love to hear what you think!  There is a soft blue in the mottled border, so this picks it up a little.

I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesdays!