Border, Borders and More Borders.

My two finishes in January were WIPs from 2012.

I had been dragging along my petite four for about 6 months...

It was missing a border. Two borders actually.
It traveled to New England in August with the potential borders.. one got put on at that point.
Then it went to retreat in November, where the next border was auditioned and failed. Finally, after a few more tries, it went to the January retreat where it was finished! This quilt started a few years ago when I decided I needed a traveling project.. lots of baskets with handles to practice my hand applique stitching. It definitely traveled quite a bit.

My second finish this year did not linger as much as Petit Four but had just as many border auditions, if not more...

I had put on the first border during retreat in November, but I had to wait for some more fabric to continue the trial and error process.

I must say the last inside border was the most difficult since I had used most of the fabrics I had brought to the retreat but I refused to leave with it unfinished!

I'm so happy I worked through that last inner border and was able to finish it.

This is my first FINISHED machine applique project. It really worked wonders on my confidence to tackle more like this. Which means I just might get some use out of the truckloads of Blackbird design and Kim Diehl books I have in the closet!!!