Borders and More

The borders are on.

I used this opportunity to practice measuring and applying borders as described in Class 180, lesson 3.  However, doing this from memory, I will admit to skipping lesson 1 on squaring the quilt.  Measurements fortunately show the quilt fairly close to even - less than 1/4 inch difference.

The key of course is to measure carefully - across the center (in each direction) and also to remember the measurement.  One must also be careful not to stretch the measuring tape or the quilt top (I may have done so while measuring the quilt as it hung on the closet doors - I remeasured on the table).

This is the largest quilt I've worked on so far, and I don't have an accessible table to lay it flat, so I folded it in half to remeasure, especially as borders were added.  It is easier for me working with a larger quilt if Gus is available to hold one end of the measuring tape.

Another tip that shouldn't need to be mentioned is to write the measurements down...  makes computations along the way much easier - especially if strips need to be joined.

A tip I read online that I plan to use for the next quilt is to use adding machine tape in the length of the desired border to help with accuracy.  It may be a bit redundant, but being a visual and tactile learner, I think it will help me - and has the added benefit of being a handy place to write down my computations.

So - once the borders are measured and cut (1/2 inch longer than the measurement to allow for room to square the corners at each addition - as recommended by Harriet and Carrie), the center of the quilt and the center of the border are matched up - I place a pin at both centers so that I can match up by feel.  Next the ends of the border are pinned down - remembering to leave 1/4 inch past each edge.

Now comes the fun part - one could say that we apply Zeno's Paradox of Dichotomy. Or not (yes, I'm a bit of a geek).  A pin is placed halfway between the center and then end, and then halfway between the quarter point and the end - and so forth in each section depending on how many pins you wish to use and how much easing of the quilt versus the border needs to be done to match the length of the quilt edge to the border length.

This process is repeated for each pair of borders until all are on.

Now - for the MORE.

This past weekend Gus and I traveled with his Scout troop to Damascus, VA to camp near the Virginia Creeper trail.  While I rode the 17 miles from White Top, down the mountain to our campsite in Damascus, Gus and 5 friends (and 5 leaders) cycled on to Abingdon and then back to Damascus - to complete a 50 mile ride.  For the cycling merit badge, the Scout must complete a 50 mile ride in under 8 hours. Gus and his friend Evan were the youngest doing the 50 miles this year and did complete in 7 hours 54 minutes.  I won't deny a little stress as the clock closed in on 8 hours from their departure.

This is the face of triumph!