Border Four on my Gwenny-Inspired Medallion Quilt

One would think that "something fishy" would work perfectly with my medallion quilt.  After all, a contributing idea for my first border, childhood, was collecting fishing worms after a day of rain so my father and I could go fishing.  Night, stars, fish....  Perfect, right?  But I thought, there is no way I'm putting fish on this quilt.

So I began brainstorming ideas in addition to some already suggested by Wendy who chose the theme for this border.  To mind came scales/scallops, clamshells, starfish (which one would think perfect to go with the star flowers in the center of the quilt), lighthouses, boats, fish shapes, (ever notice how close in shape a fish is to a little boat, except the boat doesn't have a tail), fish eyes, fish tails, fishing poles, piers, the ocean (or any body of water).  But I eliminated actual fish in my thought process for "something fishy."

My first bright idea was sunset on the ocean.  (What could be fishier than the ocean?)  (View some images here.)  I imagined those gold, coral, and rose shades somehow blending into a beautiful "sky" around the quilt.  Except I couldn't quite manage to make it work.  In fact, I couldn't really imagine how create it in fabric.

Admittedly, I didn't try to make those small squares work well because I didn't even sew them.

Then I decided maybe I should go with a strip of red, then "piers" dividing sunset colors along the length of the quilt.  Again, I didn't sew anything.

But neither of these ideas worked for me.  I couldn't figure out where the sun would be setting and how the colors would stretch out around the quilt as they do in a sunset.  And I wasn't sure I wanted a quilt with blue stripes around the edges.  So back to the drawing board.

I thought of starfish, which you can see in the first photo.  Those didn't really work for me, either.

Then I saw this quilt in Liberated Quiltingmaking II ...

... and I thought, Those triangles look like fish tails.  Maybe, just maybe, here was an idea I could use (despite proclaiming that this quilt, my quilt, would not have fish on it).

Still thinking of an ocean sunset, I made some fish tails.  (Just to be clear, fish tails are not the same as flying geese.  Fish tails are deeper and can be narrower or wider than the rectangle shape on which they rest.)  I was interested in having the tails in a variety of sizes and widths, some in the center of the rectangle, some not.

My husband, usually very encouraging, looked at these shapes and said, "I don't think those look like fish tails."  I told him that was okay because I wasn't going for realism.  (Definitely not with cream, coral, peach, tan, and blue fish tails in a narrow sea of red.)

In the end, I cut off 2 1/4" of the last border and added fish tails around the edges.

Laughter bubbles up when I look at this border.  It is outrageous.  It is too narrow.  It's too bright.  The colors overtake the quilt.  And yet I think the colors work with the flowers in the center.  I don't think the quilt is finished.  I think it needs (oh, no!) another border.

The border widths:
1" copper strip around center basket
6" dark blue border with stars
4" log cabin blocks (4 1/2" on bottom edge)
1 1/2" copper border (2" on bottom edge)
3 3/4" light star border (with applique star points)
3 3/4" fish tail border (4 1/4" on top and 4 3/4" on bottom)
The quilt now measures 60 1/2" x 67 1/2".

I haven't spent much time looking at medallion quilts but my opinion at the moment is that they look better when every border is not nearly the same width.  When I add another border to this quilt I think it should probably be as wide or nearly as wide as the blue border.  I have no idea what that border will look like but I sense that it needs some blue, green, and/or copper in it.

This has been an interesting, challenging, fun quilt along.  Thanks to Lori, Cynthia, Cathy, Katy, and Wendy for inviting us to participate with them.  I'm linking this post to Gwennie Inspired Medallion Finale at Humble Quilts.  I encourage you to click through to see the quilts others have created for this quilt along.

I'm also linking this post to
> finish it up Friday at crazy mom quilts
> Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts
> Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Thanks for hosting, ladies.

--Nancy.
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