This past weekend was crazy busy while we celebrated Canada’s 150th birthday.  It was wonderful to be part of the excitement.  Paul and I took the Go-Train to Toronto and we handed out 250 Canadian flags to anyone who wanted one.  He is the one in the Canadian flag shirt, carrying a Canadian flag, with a bag full of Canadian flags.  I wish we had more!  Also, we saw the big duck.  Yes, it was really big!

So much fun!  So today I decided to sew the 2 borders on my Friends of Baltimore/Baltimore Squared quilt.  I must confess, I am loving how this quilt is looking:)  Measuring borders can be daunting at the best of times.  It is twice as daunting when you have spent a good amount of time appliqueing swags on the border.  Here is what I did to make the process as stress free as possible…

First, I folded the quilt in half and measured it…a few times.  Sometimes I get different measurements, so I just keep measuring until I get the same measurement twice.  There it is….30 1/2″ which means my quilt measures 61″.

Next, I pressed the borders nice and flat.  Bruin seems to be able to predict when I need the ironing board.

So I always iron my blocks and borders on the wrong side, that way I can get the background nice and crisp.

Next I folded the border in half lengthwise and measured 30 1/2″ (the same as the quilt).  And I marked it with a pencil.

I took a second glance just to make sure everything was lined up evenly.  Yes, it was.

Then I took a deep breath and I trimmed of the excess.  Easy Peasy!

The borders are cut a little wide, so I trimmed them down according to the paper pattern.  I just measured 3/4″ from the top of the pink circle and trimmed the extra bit off.  I didn’t trim the bottom of the border because I like to trim the entire quilt up after it is quilted.  A little extra is always handy.  Deep breath……

Now I could finally sew the borders on.  Sweet!

Til next time….

Kerry