Collections Quilt, binding-borders

Cool Collections partial view

 I quilted this yesterday and y'all, the seam ripper was involved.
I was so tired of problems by the time I quit for the day. Ever have days like that? It started with choosing the wrong couching trim around the pictures. Rip. Then, in using the couching foot instead of the walking foot, because I was, er, couching while quilting,  the pictures skewed on the quilt. The couched thread stayed right in the middle like it's supposed to, the foot however pushed the three layers askew. I noticed right after all nine were done.
I was not ripping them all out.

 In my stash was a remnant of this wavy rick-rack like fabric, in perfect colors for my kitschy fifties quilt. I fussy cut two long pieces for an extra wide binding that became like a little border. Loved it.
Sewed them carefully on both long sides. Trimmed to a half inch from sewing line, hand stitched them to the back of the quilt. Then I noticed you could barely see the lime one.
HA! I got out my trusty prisma-color pencils and colored in with an aqua along the edges of the lime which shaded and defined it


When binding, I usually make one long piece and miter at corners, unless I want to fussy cut like this one. Note, I did not do a double fold binding as I was yardage challenged and it's a wall quilt. This means I will have to fold over an edge on the back before sewing it to the backing fabric.
So, onward to these bindings:

I left the excess batting/backing on the edges, measured from the center to make sure the binding fabric was level (my seam ripper was tired)  and placed the cross cut binding along the top and bottom.Pin. Stick myself.
As I place the fabric along the edge I fold it around the two finished bindings, see it held down with the ruler just for your viewing pleasure, to the right.
Sew the quarter inch seam catching that folded bit at the beginning firmly around the finished edge.

I wanted the binding/border to be a half inch so I placed the ruler along the seam line at the half inch and trimmed away the excess. Flip the binding fabric over the seam, then press. Starting and finishing edges are already turned to leave it finished at the corners.
Continue as usual, pull binding to the back, turn under the long edge (mitering the back corners) and whipstitch to backing as usual. The thing is, I was able to fussy cut each edge this way, and it looks great.

I say I'm finished quilting but I need to add something in the wavy turquoise double needle quilted area. I tried five little circles along the bottom there, but it doesn't excite me, and doesn't add enough texture. Do you all have suggestions? I am also deciding where to add embellishments, like the flamingo pin and some cow earrings to the black area between the photos. More is better right? As a famous quilter, David Walker said to me, Excess is never enough.
The finished quilt will go up tomorrow, geegaws added, all done up and shiny!
 I will post pics and links to the other "quiltart" challenge quilts on April first. LeeAnna