terri bb

hi gals! help me here my best friend lulu gave me this quilt top before she moved to georgia. this is going to be my next hand quilting project. it was made by her great grama but i can't date the fabric. i want to say 1940s but not sure! i need to take it to my lqs for dating unless you gals can give it a whirl. in the picture its not too shabby but in person its one of the ugliest quilt tops i think ive ever seen! its just the colors is all~~WHEW! anyways, it measures roughly 52x86. its just too narrow. i should add a border to it before i quilt it. what do you suggest? i was thinking a cream on cream to sort of tone it all down a bit. would love to hear what you all have to say about it. you guys are awesome and thank you for the help!

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Tartan

It looks like your pretty Tumbling Blocks top has quite a mix of colours so you could use a colour to match the room you want to put it in. A cream on cream would look nice as well as a soft grey. I would not use a stark white as it would look too much like an add on and not part of the quilt top.

gabeway

Can't tell on the material. Cream on cream would work but maybe a light blue as narrow border and then cream. It has quite a bit of blue in it.

Jingle

I would use white for a narrow border and a colored larger border.

hopetoquilt

If you leave it with the same dimensions, it would make a nice wall hanging over a sofa.

hudgoddess

It looks like it has a lot of green in it too. Why not take it to the fabric store and lay it out on a few different border fabrics to see what you like best. You never know-you might fall in love with a super pale peach!

Mom3

I think off white/cream would be fine.

As far as the size goes: If you take off some of the existing quilt and add it to the sides then add contrast borders it could turn out quite nice.

Something like this where the black is the original quilt with some length moved to the side and the red area is the 'new' border area.

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After rearranging like the above, you can add more borders to get it to a size you'd like.

mom-6

Do you possibly have some compatible fabrics to add additional tumbling blocks to the sides? Especially if you follow mom3's suggestion that would give it continuity.

earthwalker

I think you would need to take it to the store to even try picking a border....looks like it has lots of blues, greys/lavender. Maybe add a wide border then narrow, then wider, then bind in the narrow fabric colour. Whatever the outcome...please show us....I think it's quite pretty...It's just waiting to be brought to life with your quilting

SheriR

I was wondering too if you could do what mom3 and mom6 said. Moms are so smart.