What To Do?

Before I answer that question, let me show you the "folded border". I don't think this would work on most quilts, but the way this one turned out, it looks like the mat in a picture frame and it really works. You can see that it lays flat against the middle part of the quilt, which appears as the picture in the frame.

In this picture I am lifting back the fold to show that it is not "attached" to both pieces as a regular border would be. I am pleasantly surprised with the way it looks.

Once I finished the second border and layered the back, batting and quilt front and pinned them, I had to decide just how I was going to quilt this puppy. I have only done "stitch in the ditch" machine quilting thus far. I'm not confident enough in myself or in my machine to try freehand or stippling. So the first step was to stitch around all the pinwheel blocks and then around the entire quilt at the border. That left me with large triangles and one large square block in the middle. So, what to do next?

I visited a local quilting store and looked around at all the finished quilts there. One really caught my eye as it seemed to have an answer to my dilemma. They had taken buttons and string and tied the quilt in strategic places. So I began to get some ideas about buttons and set off looking for teddy bear buttons. I found these cute little bears and next to them were these blue, brown and tan buttons - just the right colors to go with the teddy material. Then I found some very narrow ribbon in blue, tan and red. Now, I just need to get a sharp, wide-eyed needle and start tying buttons! I think this will be just the right touch.

The teddy buttons will go at the apex of the pinwheels, and the other buttons on the teddy material and maybe on the border too. The final step will be the binding - more of the chambray. Hopefully it will make a nice baby gift in the not-too-distant future!