Quilt suggestions?

[mzgarden]

I'll start by saying I am no expert quilter.  I'm designing a quilt for our queen sized bed.  I'm not good at following someone else's patterns and my attention span doesn't help me make the same square over and over, so I'm doing a quilt that has a fence rail perimeter and then another internal perimeter, spaced out with perimeters of individual unique blocks that have meaning for us  The way it's designed the finished size without borders will be 84" square.   I'm thinking I want to put different sized borders on the sides than on the top/bottom - but I can't find any pictures of a quilt done like this.  My intent is to put wider borders - or maybe additional lengths of border fabric on the top and bottom than on the sides to get it to rectangular.

Having never seen a quilt done like this I was looking for some pictures to help me, but can't find it. --

Can anyone point me to pictures of square quilts that have borders that make it rectangular?

Or, maybe this is a bad idea I'm not thinking about and you could clue me in on what I'm not thinking about?

Thanks.

Sort of tried to give a picture  a = fence rail blockl, b = special picture blocks

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abaaaba

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[Melissa]

Normally I would not make a sampler quilt end up being square. You would want to have a different number of blocks for the width and the length. The borders do not have to be equal width.

[Melissa]

I know this is not exactly what you are thinking about but just to give the idea about different numbers of blocks.

One good idea is to plot it out on graph paper!

[krisinmi]

I second the graph paper idea. I use it all the time when I'm planning a new quilt.

Another way to become rectangular is to add rows of smaller blocks between the rows of 'normal' sized blocks. For example, I'm working on a lap quilt for my mil for Christmas. I have nine 12" blocks laid out in 3 rows of 3 blocks. Between 1st/2nd row and 2nd/3rd row I have a row of six 6" blocks.

Clear as mud?? Wish I was better at putting pictures online. If you want to pm me your email addy I can send you a picture that way.

[mzgarden]

Melissa, thanks
krisinmi, thanks, I think I've got the idea.

Appreciate you giving me some ideas to think about.

[Tallpines]

Dec 12, 2020 21:27:18 GMT krisinmi said:

Another way to become rectangular is to add rows of smaller blocks between the rows of 'normal' sized blocks. For example, I'm working on a lap quilt for my mil for Christmas. I have nine 12" blocks laid out in 3 rows of 3 blocks. Between 1st/2nd row and 2nd/3rd row I have a row of six 6" blocks.

Or .....a row of smaller blocks at each end.
You could create a row of small blocks for each end .....  like small 4 patch or 9 patch blocks.

Or something more work intensive like a row of different colored houses, with a variety of trees and shrubs.    Or .... just about any kind of miniature blocks.

Another option would be to add a strip of coordinating fabric .... could be a plain accent color, or a pretty print to match the theme of your quilt.

Quilts that are intended to be used as bed spreads often have a separate row at one end intended to cover the pillows.  
Why not put a row at each end!  Making them as narrow or wide as is needed to achieve your final goal.

Then .... add your final border around your entire quilt.

[mzgarden]

Tallpines, thanks! that gives me a lot of options.