I have a trunk show in the current issue of Love of Quilting, and some of the quilts in my show were featured because of the magazine's theme--borders and rows.

I've gotten a lot of inquiries about four of the quilts in the magazine--quilts I call my Sister quilts. The pattern isn't mine--I made the quilts back when I was still learning quilting and before I started my business. The pattern was a BOM from my guild. When I saw the quilt I knew I wanted to participate, and make one for each of my three sisters.

I selected fabrics that reflected each of them and their gardens. And I designed a unique border for each quilt. For mine, I started with the background fabric which looked like native grasses which are featured in my garden. I added the turquoise and green to the rust tones to match the southwest where my husband is from.

The outer border is a braided border--also known as the French Braid/Friendship Braid/Prairie Braid/Pioneer Braid. You start with a square, then sew strips to it alternating sides. I make my braids longer than I need, then trim them to size after measuring the finished quilt top in several places and computing the average.

My sister Beth is fairly conservative and she didn't have much of a garden at the time, so for her I chose a simple blue and cream color scheme. Her borders are simple too--plain with blue cornerstones.

My sister Pat had a lovely garden with lots of flowers. For her I chose red and green to match the lovely floral I'd found. For her borders, I designed simple flowers that I positioned around a curvy vine. I added simple leaves to finish the look.

My sister Noreen lived near a river, and her garden sometimes got flooded so mostly it was filled with tough plants that could withstand that such as hostas. For her I chose a watery theme--blues and greens. For her border, I cut matching improv curves from the two fabrics and sewed them together with a narrow seam.

Borders are a great way to add personality to a quilt, and to experiment with new techniques. Have you ever added an interesting border to a quilt? Click reply and share them with me!

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