Friday, May 02, 2008

Turning a Corner

My title means "turning" from winter to spring, but today, you sure can't tell. Blizzard conditions, white out, people staying home, schools closed, etc. Our weather alert kept going off. Fortunately for me living in town, this kind of weather is usually not a problem, but out on the ranches, where there is nothing to break the wind, watch out! And I am hearing of much more serious weather conditions in the central U.S.

These are my poor little tulips, all encrusted with ice and snow, and then they were practically blown to bits.
In order to take a decent photo, the photographer should have laid ???, lain ???, reclined... ? on ground level -- NOT!

If you are not bored with my enthusiastic photos of the newly learned Ribbon Border, or if you didn't read a previous post, here is what it looks like in process. The important thing is to use an even number of blocks, then add the corner. That's about as difficult as this border gets but of course, keep your units the same scale. I.e, my blocks were 6 inches, my border 3 inches, and my Ribbon Border units 3 inches (all finished measurements). The last block on the right has to have the darker color on the right. The back of the block, lower left of the below photo, is shown for pressing purposes. Just press to the dark on the units and each one abuts very nicely to the next one. I designed these the old fashioned way, with regular quilt math, NOT any special rulers. Ya know, sometimes figuring out those rulers is more work then just learning to do it the 'right' way!

I'm liking it a lot, and kicking myself for thinking it was difficult. Silly.

Two sides done. I'll add an outer border to finish it off, probably white.

Oh, one more thing - what is it with Blogger and the new verification 'letters'? I can barely read them and it takes me up to 5 tries to guess what they are correctly. Anyone else having this difficulty?

20 comments:

  1. That is a wonderful border and isn't it nice to know that old fashioned math has not gone out of style. Yes, I agree some of the code letters have gotten quite jumbled.

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  2. Love the border and the quilt colors.It is too pretty....and I am as frustrated about the comment letters as you.... I have actually given up a time or two out of frustration!

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  3. I love your quilt & borter too! And I agree on the verification letters. They are hard to see - maybe it's my eyes?!?

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  4. Love that border. I agree about the letters. Don't know who came up with them but who can read them?

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  5. Oh this is going to be lovely. I really like the border, it certainly adds that extra special punch.

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  6. Blogger is driving me nuts with those verification letters. I was afraid at first that it had something to do with the latest upgrades/patches to Vista I loaded, because some of the screen fonts were changed by those upgrades (my shortcut labels became microscopically small and I had to find a Windows font size I could see). It made me feel a bit better to know it was not only me.

    BTW, I'm still marveling a the ribbon border. Even after you disclosed how easily it was done, it still looks impressive.

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  7. I REALLY like that border! It looks so complex and isn't at all. I never would have thought to piece it that way - thanks ever so much to both you and Judy! I will have to try this on a quilt one of these days.

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  8. The border is lovely and as you say it looks really tricky but isn't really. Thank you for contacting me yesterday, you're my first blog contact...hooray!!! Isn't snow pretty, makes the world seem more peacful somehow

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  9. OH NO! Your poor tulips! And no, you probably shouldn't recline upon the snowy mantle! Doesn't that sound Victorian?? Sorry to hear that you're still having cold, snowy weather. Yuck!
    Your ribbon border is fantastic! It really adds the finishing touch to your quilt. And having it be easy is extra great! I'll have to try that one. Thanks for the tip! And yes, I too am having trouble reading those darn verification letters. I thought it was just me being obtuse.

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  10. Oh, rats, sorry about your tulips. Mother Nature is sure having fun at our expense right now, huh? Love that ribbon border. I would really like to try it sometime. You promise it's not hard? Oh, and yes to the question about Bloggers letter verification---what a royal pain!!!!

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  11. I wondered if you got the snow too when they mentioned SD having a blizzard. The tulips are very pretty against the snow.

    I noticed the goofy letters for one day and then they were back to normal. I finally gave up on one site.

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  12. That border is truly a work of art! I can't believe how simple it is!!! Your quilt is stunning! Thanks for sharing the info~ Jessica

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  13. Yikes. We were complaining about the record setting heat wave we had last weekend. What's up with the weather?

    I love the border on your quilt. It adds a fun element.

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  14. Love your border. Sorry for your snowy weather. I've ordered Judy L's book Nine Patch Extravaganza since seeing your quilt and border.

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  15. The ribbon border is one of my favorites and I tend to want to use it on everything! :) What about that snow? I believe spring has officially arrived here so snow is history for us for a while.

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  16. I'm worried about your weather. Is it normal for this time of year? We are leaving on a motorcycle trip from Ontario Canada to Utah in two weeks. We will be travelling through Nebraska and now I'm worried I might need my long johns and winter mitts.

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  17. Thanks for the wonderful tutorial. I love that border. It really sets or finishes that quilt.

    The verification letters are definitely wonky. I usually have to resort to putting on my glasses and sometimes have to try several times to get through. Aging eyes do not help at all! (By the way, your verification letters weren't bad...consistent font).

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  18. Your poor tulips! We've had crazy weather in Illinois, too, but today should reach 80. That's a little more normal.

    Just watched yesterday's Fons & Porter and they showed how to make that border. It's wonderful!

    And yes, those new letters are impossible. But the last few days I've gotten more of the old style, so maybe they've had complaints. The one right now is easy to read.

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  19. Tulips looks sad but we finally have wonderful weather ...everything fresh and green...flowers popping etc. I love the border...looks so complicated and stunning...I enjoy simplicity with uniqueness..I saved pic to try one myself...enjoy your blog....M of Maine

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  20. I love this scrappy quilt and the ribbon border -- great quilt. And I'm glad you put the curved piecing tutorial on your blog -- I made a couple of drunkard path/curved pieced quilts when I first started to quilt -- I didn't know any better! But I didn't have a bit of problem because I pieced them like your tutorial!

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