Mitered Borders and Bravo to Quilters!

March 30, 2013
I've been working on and off this week on mitered borders for Violet's garden quilt.

How many mistakes can I make on these?  Well....as it turns out - quite a few!   http://www.lilystreetquilts.com/ has a pretty complete description of what to do and how to measure the borders for adding mitered borders and I thought I followed the directions, but my inner borders were too short and I had to add a few inches to each end.  Of course, I was cutting the fabric early in the morning!  The old adage is "Measure twice, cut once".  It should be "Measure twice, sit down and finish your coffee, think about the fit, then cut once!".  The outside borders weren't long enough and I had no extra fabric, so that border is not as wide as I hoped. 
A professor once told me that what you produce is at top of your game at the moment.  Well, I guess I'd better get going and make some more quilts with mitered borders so that 'the top of my game' gets a bit closer to perfection!
Quilting keeps your quota of humility filled!  On a positive note, I think that people who dare to choose hobbies show courage because they have to face errors and failure and keep on going! 
Bravo for quilters!  

Works in Progress - WIPs

March 8, 2013
Well, I'd better get a bit more consistent, right?  Would you like to hear why I haven't been blogging - no?  I don't blame you!
Here's a few things I'm working on.  I offered to put together a 'Quilt as you Go' quilt with the blocks that my guild members made and quilted.  Finally I got it all laid out and realized that there is not enough fabric for borders and without borders, I needed more blocks.  Here's a photo of one block as I quilt it (I love the gypsy holder for free motion quilting and finally realized that on a small block or project I don't have to hold on to the handles - one finger works too).

Some of the blocks for the quilt as you go!

The 4-patch blocks are for my club's mystery quilt for this year.
The spring flowers are for our March guild - block of the month.  Flower pots and flowers - perfect for the season, right?  And the pot in the centre was made with that texture medium that you sew and then shrink.  Jackie http://www.jabotquilt.blogspot.ca/ did a tutorial on it.