Circling Back

Been a busy summer...vacationing with The Babes in the Portland area; with work (of course) and even a bit of quilting done along the way (still working on UFOs)  the summer seems to be flying by.

Biking Portland's Waterfront

Ever have one of those quilts that NEVER seem to be finished?!  While I was away in Portland I received several texts from my LAQ...different "issues" with my most recent quilt.  (See Previous Post.) Seems I was in too much of a hurry to get 'er done.

Issue number one: BACKING NOT BIG ENOUGH!  What??!!???  I measured, I cut, I pieced....still, I missed?

Issue number two: some of my seams on the borders were "skimpy."  Trying to get those borders on a bit too quickly, 'eh?

Issue number three (the one that broke the camels back):  my outer border was wavy.  WHA!?  It was more than a body could handle! 

 After an appropriate time out, I had to decide what to do.  I was discouraged AND I was ready for this quilt to be done!  I was too far into it to say "forget it"  and besides, it is a gift for my sister's birthday...which was two weeks ago.  So I decided on a nice long date with Jack....cheesy movie on Netflix, a glass of wine and Jack. My personal version of  "A loaf of bread, a jug of wine and thou."



First:  take all the borders off.
Second:  remove the last row of four blocks from the length (it was too long anyway), make an additional block and add another row to the width.  Now instead of a 4-blocks by 6-blocks quilt, it is a 5-blocks by 5-blocks quilt.

New Quilt Size

New, Additional block

Finally:  Reattach the borders.

I decided to use a different method suggested to me by my quilting-neighbor, Wanda.
Her suggestion: instead of adding the borders (3) one border at a time, sew all the borders together and THEN add to the quilt, mitering the corners.  Sounds hard with that scary word "miter" but Wanda assured me it wasn't bad, she does all her quilts that way and she's been quilting A LONG TIME.

Borders

My very first mitered corner!

I love the look,  but it was harder than I thought it would be. 
It doesn't help that the finished top is 107" by 107".   SO much fabric!  

I believe this is the largest quilt I've ever made.

(My LAQ asked if it was "big enough" for the sister's bed....I should hope to shout!)

And, FINALLY, it is finished!  AGAIN!

Picture taken before the corners were mitered.

Of course, it still needs quilting and binding, but all-in-all, I'm happy with it.