Christmas (in July) Cars Bordering

Six months have passed since I have worked on my Christmas Cars quilt. I got hung up on deciding the borders and finishing and so needed to let it marinate a while. I loved the  main grey fabric with gold thread running through. Each car block is either surrounded on four sides by that special grey or on the sides by yellow and the top/bottom by red. I had used all of the grey up except for a few scraps; that is why, when I wanted to make the quilt wider, I added red pinstripe triangles on the vertical edges. (See post from 12/20/19). But when I stood back to survey my design, my eye kept zooming to those afterthought, glaring red triangles instead of focusing on the diamond shaped car blocks.

I needed to salvage my design. A border that would distract from those six rather large edge triangles might work. A graphic print would do the trick, so I cut a border sashing of black and white irregular Seussian stripes. Normally I take photo of the selvage to record what fabric I used but I forgot. I pieced together my scraps from trimming my bias seams before I found I did have some intact selvage left. You can still read it as Robert Kaufman ©1957 Dr. Suess Enterprises. Then I did find some selvage still intact.

I pieced my outer sashing strips along the diagonal as I was taught, to reduce bulk and make seams less noticeable. But with the stripe it was more noticeable so I cut it apart and seamed it parallel to the stripes. This meant I needed another strip since I lost several inches cutting apart each diagonal joint at each seam. I would show a comparison photo of seams parallel to the stripe but they do not show up!

I did not like the striped sashing butted up next to the grey however. It needed a buffer of sorts. Hmmm. Inserting a ½" wide thin band of red or yellow might do the trick. I added yellow before attaching the sashing on the side edges and added red before attaching it to the top/bottom edges. In keeping with the diamond block theme, the corners called out to be mitered. It had been along time since I had done a mitered border and I remember it took extra fabric. I bordered two long sides and, due to my miscalculation, I had to add more red pinstripe and more black/white stripe to do the two short sides. I wound up cutting off some excess at the corners but not more than I had added in so all was good. The stripes did not match at the corners but I was not expecting them to with a random, uneven stripe.  Overall I liked the effect and I am pleased to I see the mitering did lie flat, which can be tricky to achieve. 

I was going to make a binding out of a crisp black with red dots and fine red lines that went great with the Christmas trees and presents that were black with tiny red dots, carried in the vehicles. But I did not have quite enough to cut the strips so that a dot was centered in the binding. Yes, I could have done a flanged binding and stretched it to be enough, but I thought that was getting a bit too busy around the perimeter to have yet another line and it would have been difficult to change the flange color based on where the binding fell on the quilt edge. Besides, a black binding is a bit too funereal for me. I had a black/white/red mini plaid that I had bought specifically to use with the car panel but it did not appeal to me as the binding. I found a grey swirly dotted print in my stash so I am considering it instead. I also found a red with a grey grunge texture that went well, but I reminded myself I was trying to tone down the red. I auditioned them next to the black/white stripe.

Decisions, decisions. The leading contender is the grey swirls. It also goes well with the backing I am considering. Yes, Dalmatians are not a Christmas theme, but the colors go so well with the car panel colors of white/black/red/grey/cream. Plus, I have 5 yards of it! Hmm... to be continued. Gosh, working without a pattern or a kit takes so much longer. Stay tuned. Linking up with Main Crush Monday #184 at Cooking Up Quilts.