the thin green line

Ever since completing the doily quilt top some, oh, nine months ago (I really have to get on top of this too many unfinished projects at once thing) I have been umming and ahhing about the sashing - to sash or not to sash. About a month ago I was pondering the use of decorative machine stitching using perle 8 cotton and, having indeed located the correct shade of green in the meantime, last night I finally got to it.

Rather than sewing a whole new nine-patch square or risking making a mess of the completed quilt top I just mocked up an edging using some spare embroidered doily blocks. I sewed the green lines (on the wrong side) and pinned them to the quilt top to approximate what effect this sort of accent sewing might produce.

I am delighted to have come to the conclusion that the quilt would not be enhanced by adding the stitching. There is a lovely flow at the moment between the blank blocks and the embroidered blocks; any sashing or stitching would break that up and instead strengthen the geometry of the quilt. So, no extra stitching - hooray! Now I just have to quilt and back the whole thing. Actually, after nine months what I need to do is iron it.