Try Not To Be A Perfect Quilter - Loosen More!

This article continues after Try Not To Be A Perfect Quilter - Loosen Up!. Read that one first. Remember the strips we cut and the blocks we made last time? Well, let’s put ‘em together!

On each block, press the seams the same way; right or left doesn’t matter.

Remember: What I did is just a suggestion: You could make a small pillow out of one, maybe with some borders, or a large pillow out of the four blocks. But since our guild’s main reason for being is charity, I decided to do some borders to make a child’s quilt.

First I sewed the four blocks together. It’s easiest to sew with the cross seams going down on your machine so you don’t have to worry about sewing them down the opposite way of pressing. Press.

I decided yellow would be good for a border. The clock fabric did have yellow in it, and I had it in my stash. Besides, it’s such a happy color, don’t you think? Measure the length. Cut and sew a 2-inch strip on each side. Press towards the yellow border and measure the width. Then cut two 4-inch strips for the top and bottom borders. The wider top and bottom borders will turn the square into a rectangle. Again, press to the yellow.

Now just look at all the leftover strip sets from the first step in this little saga. Don’t you think a piano key border would look great?

Cut the strips across at 2 1/2 inches. Measure the length of your quilt first, sew some of them end to end, and check to see how the strip fits. If it’s too long, simply cut off the extra. If it’s too short, add another strip of strips (whaaa?).

After you have pressed the side piano key borders outward (note they press easiest if the seam is going toward the yellow border), measure the width. Add some more piano keys to the top and bottom and press.

I added one more yellow border ‘cause it seemed to me the piano keys might fall off if they weren’t fenced in.

What you see in the photo above is all I had left of from the original strips.

Now you have a finished quilt top that is probably a great size for a baby or toddler. Mine measured 32 x 46.

You can, of course, add more borders. If you had some of the “focus” fabric (in my case, the clocks) that would make a good finishing border.

Like the series? Read 8 Half Square Triangles And Loosen Up