A BOY AND A GIRL, AN ALBUM bottom border

Here is the last border, the bottom one, a few more flowers on this one.

Whilst we are on borders, most of my quilts have mitred corners. I have been told that many people don't like doing this, but, there is an easy way. In my instruction sheets in the pattern pack, I do a drawing of the finished measurement of the border, it looks something like this:

Once you have completed the applique of the borders, press well. I also suggest that prior to drawing the applique design that it might be a good idea to locate the vertical and horizontal midlines of the long strip of background and then using the sewing machine set at the longest stitich, sew on these midlines as guides. So, using these midline guides, measure and mark on the wrong side of fabric as per drawing. In this case, you would measure 66" for the side that will be attached to the centre part of the quilt. Then measure the width of the border, in ths case 12" from the line ( the 66" one) . Now you have the line for the edge of the quilt. From the vertical centreline guide, measure 45" to the right and to the left, now you have 90". If you draw a 45 degree line and connect the 66" and the 90", you will have the mitre line where you will be sewing the mitre corner. Check that angle with your ruler. Whilst you have this piece on the table, mark on the edges of the 66", 1" spacings. If you do the same on the blocks, it will help a lot with the pinning and the seaming. Another advantage is that you will be checking the measurement that the 66" is really 66", same with the blocks, you will get the 22" x 22" exactly. Then, you will also get a quilt with exact 90 degrees corners, a point that judges like to see! Once you have the corners sewn and checked, remove the excess fabric behind the mitre, continue with the applique in the corners. I would also trim the excess fabric from the 66" side. I would leave the 90" edge with the excess fabric for the quilting stage unless that side has another border. Hope this will help those who shy away from mitre corners. Let me know if you have questions, cheers, K