A Sparkling Happy Gift

     I have been gifted parts for a top for another wonderful comfort quilt from Quiltdiva Julie complete with backing and binding. This one is called Flaneur, you can read about it here. It is chock full of happy HSTs with Tula Pink's Fairy Dust as the background fabric.
    Julie's original layout was sent to me and when I put it on my wall, it made my eyes ping pong and I could not appreciate the colors, fabrics and designs. Some patterns just do that to me.

    I thought about how I could focus attention on the quilt, not add more blocks or subtract any and certainly not mess with the blocks themselves. I thought a darker value could balance out the bright, but not too much. If it was all sashed, it would be too diluted. I tried one section of the quilt with 1" strips of this fabric as I don't appreciate solids as much as some print interest.

    I went ahead and added the strips to the rest. However, I did not sew long strips in the rows or columns. Since the fabric was only 1", I was afraid it would wibble and wobble between the blocks. Some people recommend to cut it bigger, then trim it down. I did not want to trust myself to trim long sewn strips. So, what I did was sew a strip to the side of each block that needed it and sew the blocks together webbing style with the strips already attached. The blue fabric was forgiving as you can't see the seams between the blocks. And I got it all straight. It doesn't change the size much or interfere with the design but brings a focus to it.

    The last thing I am going to do before seaming the backing is add 2.5" strips (finish 2") borders using the Fairy Dust fabric that Julie included. I think this will give those HSTs some more air to sparkle.

    Julie also sent leftover HSTs which I am going to use to make the block for the front of the tote bag for the comfort quilt. Most times I use orphan blocks, but this block will match the quilt.