Mitered Corners and Pigs

Better buckle up, folks.  This is going to be a long blog.  I'm making it longer than normal for a couple of reasons.  First, I did get a lot of stuff done this week.  And some of that involves mitered corners.  The second reason is that next week, there's not going to be a blog.  I will be with Shelle at Quilt Fest in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  I've never been before, and am really looking forward to it - especially Saturday when I will be in a class with Sue Nickels learning more about machine applique.

I promise to take pictures and tell you alllllll about it.

So let's jump right into the Blazing Star.  We finished that up last week.   Now we have to put on the mitered border.

Let me just be really honest right here.  At one time, mitered corners were right up there with set-in seams and paper-piecing on my least favorite quilty things.  Judy Niemeyer got me over my paper-piecing paranoia.  This book got me over my mitering mania:

 I do not get paid one red cent for anything I promote on my blog, and anything I do recommend I either have read it or used it and found it extremely beneficial.  Let me just say that if you do not have this book in your quilting library, go get it now.  Jill has the clearest directions and illustrations for borders, mitering corners, binding, backing....it's just one of the most helpful books I have ever had.  A dear friend in my Saturday quilting bee gave it to me for Christmas one year.  I used that copy so much I literally wore it out and had to buy another one. 

Now if I can only find someone to get me over my set-in seams psychosis, all will be well in my quilting world. 

At Piece With Time simply tells you to miter the corners using your favorite method.  The following is how I did mine and the directions came from Borders: The Basics and Beyond.

First cut four strips at least 12 inches longer than your center square.  That is probably a little too long, but it's better to have to cut fabric off than wish you had made the strips longer.  Press the strips in half to find the center and put a pin in the crease.

Next, take the Blazing Star square and measure 1/4-inch down and across from each corner of the square.  Mark this with a dot.

Center the pin in the strip to the center of your block (this should be easy to find) and pin the strip to the square.  Lots of quilters don't like to use pins or take the time to pin in place.  I'm not one of those quilters.  I have often found a well placed pin has saved me from having to rip out seams. 

Take the block to your sewing machine and begin sewing where you've marked one of those dots.  Be sure to back stitch before beginning your seam.

Continue sewing until you come to the dot at the end of this side and back stitch again.  Cut your thread.

Do all four sides of the Blazing Star this way.  When you're finished, it will look like this:

Now take it to the ironing board.  We'll concentrate on one corner at a time.

Fold back one of the strips so that it lays on top of the other one, like this:

Press this folded piece really well.  Use steam, because you want a sharp crease you can see easily.  Fold your Blazing Star block in half at this corner so that the strips lie on top of each other and pin the strips in place along the crease.

Take this back to your sewing machine an sew along the crease.  When opened up to the right side, you should have a beautifully mitered corner with no puckers. 

Trim the extra fabric off  the wrong side of the block and press the seam open.

Do the other three sides and you should have a beautiful center square surrounded by a beautiful mitered border that didn't give you a migraine.

Now to add the appliqued setting triangles that you've worked so hard on for months and months...

It's a little bit scary when you think about cutting these things apart.  However, it must be done and the measurements given in At Piece With Time are very, very accurate.  But if you feel the least bit antsy about it, give yourself about a quarter inch more around the sides than the book instructs.

Whew.

Aren't you glad that's over with?  And it wasn't that hard -- not really.

Now on to the pig portion of this blog. 

I would like to update you on my library book quilt, Charlotte's Web.  I finished it yesterday and handed it over to Karen last night at guild meeting.  I was very, very pleased with it.

I had so much fun making this little quilt!  I used two decorative stitches on my Janome 7700 to make Charlotte's body and head.  And I did minimal quilting on it, just around Wilber and his friends and around the title of the book.  It is pretty much one piece of fabric and batting, so it didn't need a whole lot.  Plus it's a small wall hanging -- not a whole lot to hold together.  

This is the back.  I could resist using some left over Halloween fabric.  And the label has a tiny black and white picture out of the book.

I hope our guild does this again next year.  I got the biggest kick out of making this little quilt!

Take care of yourself next week.  I promise I will take lots of pictures in Pigeon Forge!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri