Pinning the Graduation Quilt

As I get older, pinning a quilt on the floor is harder and nearly impossible for me.  I had my daughter pin my quilts for me in exchange for me quilting her quilts, and this suited both of us.  However, Alayna's graduation quilt has to be done before the end of May, and I will not be seeing my daughter before then.  That means I have to pin it myself.

I watched some YouTube videos.  Ya gotta LOVE YouTube!  You can learn anything there, and see it as it happens, pause the video as often as needed, try it out, watch more.  Watch, do, repeat!  I watched different videos about pinning quilts on a table top.  Using clamps.  I can do that!  So I laid out my quilt sandwich layers on my kitchen table, clamping each layer, and it was nice and tight and easy to pin. 

 

I could sit down to pin, and move easily around the table on a rolling chair!  Most of the quilt actually fit, and I could pin the remaining border sections afterwards.  For once, something went right the first time!

Inner and Outer Borders

I know that inner borders (I call them "fudge strips!") are used to frame the quilt, but also as a "spacer" so that the outer borders can fit nicely if they are pieced.  The fabric I wanted to use for my outer border was a co-coordinating fabric from the collection. Small "Pictures" within a light blue background, not actually a border print, but I wanted to use it as such.  I cut the strips apart, and sewed them end to end to reach across the top and sides of the quilt.

I don't know why it was so difficult for me to figure out how wide the inner borders should be.  I knew that I needed 13 small squares across the top and bottom, and 15 going down the sides.   I struggled (badly) with the math, and came up with the necessary width and length I would need for the inner black fudge strip.  As you can see , it didn't work out at all.  The top border strip of 13 pictures is about two inches too wide.  

Gahhhhh.  So frustrating!!!  The sides worked out a little better, but not exactly as I thought it would have.  So how do I fix this without ripping off the fudge strips and re-cutting them?  I thought about this for and came up with this plan:  There was a half-inch blue background between the pictures.  What if I decreased the distance between the pictures by sewing a teensy pleat between each picture until I decreased the width of the strip enough so that it will fit? Kind of a hit-and-miss, trial and error process.  

And so I did.  Not all of the pleats were equal, but it isn't that noticeable overall, and I can camouflage the seams with the quilting.  And it worked!

Here it is, the finished quilt top!  Next: Pinning and Quilting!