Orphan Annie Gets a Border

So this is Orphan Annie with the first border. From the start, I kept thinking that Dogtooth borders might be a good design, especially using the lightning design. That just sort of seemed like the thing to do and I haven't used that layout in forever! If I was thinking more about black or pink for the borders, well, that idea quickly got shut down.

First border on Orphan Annie

When it became evident that the quilt wanted more of those lighter shades of green, I didn't really know what to do. So many of them have been used up at this point! I scrambled around and eventually found some strips of the green batik, leftovers from a recent quilt backing. Thankfully, I had enough yardage of the blue fabric for the relief/contrast color.

Auditioning the borders

I picked a size of quarter triangle that looked 'about right' and just started cutting. Didn't worry about measurements to exactly fit to the quilt at all. After sewing several long lengths of triangles together, then it was time to audition.  To my disappointment, in the initial layout, nothing looked right except for the arrangement in the previous picture. Perhaps I was going to need to add coping strips all the way around to get the proper look?  It was almost enough for me to throw up my hands and try and start over, but you know how it goes. This was an orphan block quilt. Why does it have to look incredible? That gave me just enough impetuous to sew on the first border surround--all in a log cabin style, one border after another.

Orphan Annie is a completed quilt top!

When it came time to sew on the second border, I went ahead and did another 'layout', mostly just checking to see where each border might need to start--with a blue triangle or maybe a green? That's when I tried the 'lightning' dogtooth border look once again, and to my surprise...., it looked really good at the sides of the quilt. Like, amazingly good! Not all the way around the quilt, which is kinda odd, but still. Then I fiddled and fiddled and fiddled, trying to get the corners to look okay. Soooo frustrating. 

Loving the crazy pieced corners

It was only after a couple times of leaving and coming back that I realized the problem. I was attempting to get the corners to come together in perfect pairings and/or the lightning layout in perfect repeats. This quilt was actually wanting a more disordered and make-do look. When I let go and started cutting the edges and sewing the rows with that specific idea in mind, the last rows went together swimmingly. 

Looking across the quilt

And yes, there are definitely areas where the borders fall in a more precise arrangement. That's okay. But believe me, when I say it is totally by accident {and perhaps the fact that my triangles were all cut to the same size}. The thing that really struck me was how much I LOVE the make-do look and yet, over and over and over, I continually fight against that very look in my own quilts. Now, you might see something different in what I turn out, but never think that it just comes naturally. Oh no. It's all very much a work in progress around here!

Looking very cozy

My youngest brother and his wife recently sold their home by the river {hard to raise little kids by a whitewater river}and bought a small cattle farm. During the big move, they had to decide what to take, what to keep as the farmhouse there is fairly small. Anyway, long story short, they called me and asked if I would like to have this brand new sewing table {still in the box}. Yessss!!!

A new sewing table!

Since my sewing machine is slightly larger than the standard size, my husband had to cut a little bit more room in the opening. It's been interesting getting used to having my sewing machine flush with the sewing table and honestly, I'm still not 100% sure that I love that part. It sure looks good though! Always fun to get something new to try out, especially when there's no money involved!

Trying out the new sewing machine position

I finally went ahead and started chain piecing the wedges for the Grandma's Fan blocks, cut out sometime during the winter. There's a lot of blocks in the quilt {over 90?} and so I haven't been in a huge hurry. I'll probably sew the fans onto the background by hand, but now I'm dithering over which color to use in the background position. Lots of white in this quilt and mehh... you know how I feel about that!

Starting to sew the Grandma Fan blocks together

Got all the leaves cut out for the Flower Power blocks. Love the punchy vibe! It's a vintage floral I picked up at a quilt show many moons ago. The last time I used a chunk of this fabric, it was probably in 2018. Very good fabric, but the purple in it goes a very long ways. Wish I could get better pictures of these tulip blocks, but to date, they have been extremely uncooperative.

Flower Power blocks looking better with the leaves

In other news, we have had a rather rough couple of weeks. Some friends in our church were involved in a dispute of sorts and were killed in their home. During Covid, they got more and more interested in going off-grid and getting away from people, resulting in them buying property in a fairly remote area. It was all very shocking and so very, very sad as they were 'salt of the earth' sort of people and the least likely people you could imagine this happening to. 

Only one frame left to go!

Our church members took food, for over a week, to the daughter & husband in the home where she was housing the surviving grandmother and other grieving family members. The grandmother was also living at the remote location at the time of the tragedy, and had thankfully managed to run away and hide. She was severely traumatized as you can only imagine. It's surreal and mind blowing this could happen to such good people. There was lots to be done as to relocating animals and plants etc. and much more needed in the weeks ahead. Obviously the grandmother will not be comfortable living there now and the house will have to be cleaned up and sold. My husband was asked to officiate the memorial services and our church members rallied around and provided a dinner afterward, all on the Saturday of a holiday weekend. So much love and really, so very little we can do for them. It's hard when tragedy strikes close to home with people we genuinely care about. I cannot even imagine how devastating it would be to be the daughter, mother, father, grandparents in this situation. 

As usual, when times are hard and there is lots of heavy thinking to do, I tend to pick up the hoop and put in the hand quilting time. Many times through the years we've been married, my husband thinks longingly about living off grid and 'getting away from it all'. If nothing else, this event proved to us that when the world is in such a state of apprehension and turmoil, there is not a lot of safer places to be. I wasn't even going to mention any of this, but it has made me feel very sad, lethargic, helpless, moody--you name it. So yeah. Don't feel sorry for us. We're not the ones who got our lives upended in a brutal, senseless manner. We are absolutely, positively looking forward to getting to spend a week with our kids and grandkids here in a couple weeks. I'd say it's a very good time to bring on the hugs!

Hanging In There

We're mostly doing fine, just feeling headachy and stressed. Very thankful that so many of the people we know and love have been able to return already to an intact home. Today though, the fires are a few miles away and across the Columbia river. Much closer than we can possibly be happy about. No evacuation notices for our little town just yet, but it could come. Uggh. I've got a file box of important papers ready just in case, but nothing else. We're just tired. Weary. Sick that this particular fire was started intentionally. Some people have mental health problems, that's all I'm gonna say.

4-Block Tulip Medallion

In an impulsive move, I decided that there really should be something hanging up on that little design wall of mine. There needs to be something to look at and consider whenever I come into the quilt room. Something that doesn't take me having to pull it out of a tote just to look at. Decisions are hard right now. Even the silliest of ones.

All the pieces were cut using a small template

called a 'Mini Dresden' I picked up at Walmart

So  out came the 4-block Tulip quilt project. You know, the boring blocks? I'm making these pieced sashing strips to frame them. All the blues were cut strictly from the scrap bin totes and so the straight of the grain isn't always exact. I'll deal with the foibles of that later. Eight more sets to go and then I'll have to figure out the inner strip color and all the cornerstones. Probably gonna be applique there. I mean, why not?

Trying not to man handle them too much!

I've also been plodding through the steps to bring the T blocks to completed quilt top phase. This isn't a particularly inspiring quilt top, but all of it has come directly from the stash totes or a cut-up plaid shirt or two. It's kept me busy in a totally non-pressure way. 

Vintage T quilt top is completed!

In this quilt I focused on 'old tired oranges' and found some success with using up some languishing bits. Like I said in a previous post, the color palette was found in one of my favorites of my dads well-used plaid shirts. I'm pleased to say that another of his cast-off plaid shirts has also found its way into this very quilt. I've had it for a very, very long time and never found a good use for it until now. Seems rather fitting. And yes, he's still alive. Mom and dad both are, though getting more fragile with every year it seems. Much better to make this sort of quilt now than later when I would cry buckets, right?

Loving this green fabric so much...

I changed out the fabric on the plus block below three different times. Or was it four? Don't know why I even bothered as eventually this quilt will probably be used as a comfort quilt. Or not. There is that sentimental attachment after all! Some of the smaller orange rectangles are pieced as are the longer orange strips. It's all make-do and somehow sort of sweetly old fashioned. I don't love it, but I'm happy with the simplicity and {un}pretentiousness of it all.

It may not be special, but it's keeping me busy...

One evening I couldn't settle and finally went scrounging for a new fabric pull to cheer myself up. Funny how melancholy it looks with only blues, greens and blacks being represented, ha ha. Not so cheery after all unless you're a quilter. Then you probably understand.  Guess it will be a moody Judy sort of quilt if/when I ever cut into the fabric and give it a go!

I also have given the quilt room another good tidying up in the past week. Had a lot of fun opening up all the smaller totes of fabric stacks and also gave all the simmering stacks on the counters a good long look. Nothing went promptly back into the stash totes, so I'd say there's still some potential there in each and every one. In fact, my heart actually did the little 'pitter-patter' thing just imagining a couple of these worked into a quilt design. Couldn't quite bring myself to actually cut into anything this week, but ideas are slowly bubbling up in the back of my conscious. I can feel it happening.

A new stack of fabric to think about...

Finally found a window to watch an episode of 'The Quilt Show' featuring Sujata Shah and Freddy Moran. You can find the link over at The Root Connection though time is running out to access it for free. Am so glad I took the time to watch this as both quilters are long time faves of mine. Really made me aware {once again},  of how much I NEED a source of creativity in my life! Especially right now. Wowsers. Some nights it's all I can do to pick up the hand quilting hoop and stitch part of a hoop. The thing is, no matter how difficult it seems to be to get started, I always, always feel so much better afterward. Crossing my fingers this publishes properly as our Internet has been very erratic this past week. So there you go, another post from Debbie Downer desperately trying to keep her chin up. Things could be much, much worse and we're thankful they're not. One day at a time!

 

Ormes Inspired For the Finish

So... How bout a hundred pictures of the recently completed 'Ormes Inspired' quilt top? It was one of those spring days where it was overcast one minute and blazingly bright and sunny the next. Hopefully you can figure out the true color of the quilt eventually if you look at enough pictures!

Ormes Inspired 

This quilt top was started back in August of 2019. Sort of a spur of the moment project but then, not really. I had been eyeing this pattern for a very long time and in fact had recently gotten permission from the very talented artist Jane Ormes. Even then I was a bit dubious that it could be done. So much drawing. Trying to make all fit proportionately. Eek! The subtleties were marvelous. Pretty sure that would be way beyond my meager capabilities. Such a large, large applique background! Hands cramping just thinking about it! But somehow I got up the gumption one day and just dove in. Took it one step at a time and kept the decisions small. 

Working on borders

You know how sometimes there's a quilt that won't let you be? Eventually you find yourself starting it {almost in spite of yourself}, thinking, 'Oh well, if it ends up looking terrible, I'll just hand it off as a comfort quilt! Surely someone will appreciate it!' One decision after another, a very few 're-do's' and finally, the entire applique center was finished in April of this year. Now what? Well, it was a very odd shape, almost 10 inches wider than it was long. Not a good look for a quilt unless it's meant to hang on a wall! So then I was left contemplating borders. Which I love and adore. Easy, right?

Needing a change!

This one was such a puzzle. I almost didn't dare to put a border on it because it was so good without. But then it was driving me crazy that one of my quilts would basically have to be put on a bed sideways in order for it to look all right. Or even if used on someones lap, the design would always end up presenting cockeyed. Somehow I ended up coming up with the idea of a narrow coping border to frame the quilt and ease the transition into a more formal looking border. The coping border fabric was deliberately chosen in a print that created a lot of movement and play in the color changes. Perfect colors actually! Love that floral so much even though my youngest daughter was a little iffy about it. That part made me very happy!

Okay, now it seems like a finish...

Then I plowed ahead with the short, brick-like border that seemed promising, at least initially. The design was simple, not something that appeared likely to compete with the middle of the quilt. {Little did I know!} I liked how it was versatile in regards to using up almost all of the colors in the quilt without a lot of complex piecing, that it would be oh-so-simple to add on a second row, top and bottom. Sometimes adding borders on two sides of a quilt and not the others just increases the awkwardness factor. This seemed doable. All the single-fabric borders that I auditioned fell very flat or had that entirely-too-formal look that makes some quilts look ordinary and dull.

Somewhere along the line, it also occurred to me that adding a random white brick could essentially ease the stark white background into the border. A little bit better flow from inside to out would/could? help lesson the rigid framing that borders often immediately create. That was good. I really wasn't trying to lasso the entire quilt into a tight little cubby, just stretch out the {whole quilt} sizing just enough to make it more user friendly.*sigh...  Overall, it probably came down to the fact that I just couldn't think of anything better.

Liking this upper corner

I should have known when I first auditioned the bricks, but you know how it is. I was on a mission to get the borders figured out and stitched together! It wasn't until the second day of working on them that I finally took a good long look at the quilt--all the it, laid out fairly flat on the floor with the first row of bricks SEWN {of course} onto the quilt. And that's when I panicked. My beautiful, colorful, complimentary border had in effect, made the entire thing look child-like. 

Still in love with the applique

It was busy. Loud. Circus-like.... And so I paced and I pondered. Why did I ever think working in these particular colors would be a good idea? So out of my comfort zone! And so I brought in a daughter to give me her opinion. Which she didn't want to do and pretty much questioned why I even ever ask for her opinion because she almost always likes what I end up doing anyway! {She reads this blog and will be mentally telling me to shut up anytime now.} 

The thing is, what I needed to happen was to 'put voice' to what I was feeling when looking at the border. Saying it out loud was important. Questioning the validity of my feelings was imperative. There WAS something wrong. What was it? Struggling to put it all into words ultimately helped clarify the problem and eventually lead me to a solution. It helps tremendously to have a sounding board! We all know that! Sometimes it doesn't even matter what 'they' say, so much as it matters that we're actually just taking the time to listen to our quilts. Okay, so that was confusing. But you probably get the gist. I couldn't have got to a solution so quickly without her.

The problem corner

Anyway, long story short is that I knew there wasn't any point in reverting back to a one-fabric border idea. No matter what color it ended up with, the look would only succeed in dumbing down the entire quilt. After a bit of time, I found the lighter black text fabric and started playing around with ideas that involved using some of the already pieced together border. At first it seemed pretty hopeless, but I didn't give up. There was just a germ of an idea that somehow that particular fabric could work magic that a much darker black couldn't manage. Or any color. Or white, which I did actually contemplate for longer than I want to admit to. But seriously. White? Doesn't that take it right back to 'wall hanging'? Why not just get rid of the borders altogether?

Everything looks good from here though!

You might think that I missed the boat by a mile, but this border is so much better than what it looked like before. I like it a lot. Like, A LOT! Yes, I'm a bit disappointed in how obnoxiously colorful the outside border is. Not what I intended at all! On the other hand, I'm absolutely delighted with how easy it was to add a little bit of that darker fabric in {here and there}, and change the focal point from the busy border right back to the center of the quilt where it belongs. It took time for sure. That seam ripper of mine and I have had another falling out, we might not recover.*wink

Wish you could see the upper left corner better!

The only thing that I couldn't totally settle about, would be the larger black rectangle in the far left bottom corner. It looks better when the quilt is laying down than when it's hanging up. How weird is that? Oh no, not in the pictures, could never get a good enough angle to show you. But go ahead, I know you want to. Tell me. What do I need to do different there?  Do I need to take that out and make it more narrow? One row thick instead of the two? Go back to the colorful bricks completely? Make an every-other black/color corner in that area? I won't promise to change anything but I'll definitely listen!

Satisfied with this corner too...

'Cuz I'm open to ideas. It's not packed away yet, still simmering on the countertop in the quilt room. The rest of the border area are pretty much set in stone now though. Don't bother instigating any change there! One of the ideas my daughter and I discussed was the possibility of adding a word down there in that black hole, um, rectangle... Not sure how that won't busy the quilt up even more, but it's something I'm willing to contemplate.

Uh huh, I knew it beyond my expertise to figure this out....

In the mean time, this quilt is giving me the side-eye for not creating a border that adequately honors and makes the applique shine. It could have been better. But maybe not during Corona-crazy days. Perhaps this is as good as it gets!

Folksy Flower Coming Into Its Own

Finally, all the diagonal borders are attached to Folksy Flowers! It's been a a long, drawn out process as I started this quilt way back in 2015. Some quilts just take longer than others to come about. The full idea of this quilt apparently needed to marinate and simmer, slowly growing into its own. Either that or I was just practicing avoidance. Sometimes I honestly can't quite tell the difference!

Adding on another border....

At the beginning, there was a stack of fabrics that I kept pulling from. Occasionally I had to dig into the stash in search of another fabric, but mostly that initial fabric pull stayed true. The large flower with smaller flowers scattered across the middle was initially inspired by a piece of embroidery? I saw on a random blog one day while blog-hopping. I was never able to properly back-trace my steps {although I tried valiantly}, and there it was, stuck in my head, eventually sparking this entire quilt idea.

Finally getting to see it with all the diagonal borders...

I've been wanting to play with this sort of medallion for years, but was a little bit nervy about the idea. You know, because of possible bias stretch issues? And yep, it definitely happened with this quilt. The outcome is not completely horrid. I'm giving it the Pollyanna talk for now, assuring it that 'lots of hand quilting should help tremendously'. And really, I'm okay with that. It is a 'folksy' quilt after all.

Never know where a seed of an idea can take us!

At this point I'm considering whether or not there will be one more border to finish the quilt off. I briefly toyed with the idea of a one-fabric border in perhaps a lighter color, even dug into the stash for possibilities. Finally, I had to throw up my hands in defeat. There isn't anything lurking around in these stash totes that will do the trick and frankly, I'm not convinced it will settle for a wimpy simple, one-fabric border. After all the other border-work, why not finish with something a little more interesting? So I'm thinking hard about this one. Sometimes 'simple' really is the best option.

Giveaway Winners and A New Quilt Top!

A very big thank you to everyone who linked up their Quilty 365 quilts or quilt tops! So exciting to see 19 wonderful versions all together. The Random Generator determined that Wendy Caton Reed from 'The Constant Quilter' is the winner of the first giveaway! {I included the names of 3 quilters who finished quilt tops but didn't have a blog to link up to.} Congrats to the second giveaway winner, Karen from 'Karen's Korner'! as well.

Loving these blocks!

On a more personal note, I finally got the quilt top finished up for my Rising Sun blocks that were giving me oodles of trouble. Several were puckered so badly in places or 'hilly' in the middle, that it seemed impossible to go further with them. But after all that work? Crazy to throw them away.

A new quilt top!

Being an intrepid soul, I came up with a plan to cut them in half and use them for border work in a totally different layout than originally planned. I marked the center line and then sewed very close on both sides. After that, I sliced through the marked line. Having the the edges of the quilt stay-stitched will {at least partially} secure the blocks from unraveling while engaging in future quilting. It's an offbeat solution, but using them way helps mask the glaringly, obvious mistakes by demoting them to a secondary position in the quilt. Plus, cutting down through the middle helps stretch out that poofy area that happened from my careless stitching. In my pie-in-the-sky dreams, hand quilting will eventually smooth out the worst of the worst and then washing and subsequent crinkling of the quilt will make it all look charmingly make-do.

Rising Sun blocks now in the border...

Honestly, I am absolutely thrilled and yes, giddy! with the way the alternate applique came out! It's so sweet in a look-at-me sort of way. Totally holding its own with the more complex rising sun blocks! It was so odd though, to work backwards and then be scrambling to fill in the middle of a quilt. So challenging and yet, zero pressure to speak of. I mean seriously, how much worse could it get? I literally had almost nothing to lose from this experiment! So ironic how the challenge of working with a big fat 'oops' can cause us to be more invested in a quilt project too. In this case, it ended up being so much better than the original plan 'cuz I just totally went with my gut and played for the pleasure of playing. Hey, why not try this? And the results are more 'me' than ever expected. Maybe the  'me' look is a big helping of mistakes with a generous side of 'fix-it'. Hmmm... Something to consider?*wink

Measuring For a Coping Border When You Want to Make Pieced Borders Fit Properly

As you know, my Muddy Creek quilt has not been made from a formal pattern. The lack of pre-planned measuring can cause issues when working with pieced border units, forcing me to find creative solutions. One of the best solutions I've found (and used over and over through the years) is adding a coping border.

1. First you need to find some important measurements, starting with the top width of your quilt.

Top width of quilt

 Next will be the measurement for the middle width of the quilt.

Middle width of quilt

And last, measure for the bottom width of the quilt. Make sure your tape is taut and flat when taking all your measurements! You want them to be as accurate as possible. In this case, my three measurements are 27 1/4", 27 1/4", and 27 1/8". Now I need to find the average which means I have to add those three numbers together (27.25 + 27.25 + 27.125 = 81.625) and then divide by 3 (81.625 divided by 3 = 27.208). Rounding up in quilty language, I get the measurement of 27.25".

Bottom width of quilt

2. Repeat that process to get the vertical length of your quilt. This is especially important if your quilt is not square! Measure the length of the left side of the quilt, straight down the middle and also the length of the right side. The three vertical measurements for this quilt are as follows: 32", 31 7/8", and 32". In this particular instance, I don't even need to do the math to come up with an average of 32".

Vertical length of quilt

3. The best way for me to keep track of which number goes where, is to draw a picture. It's a magic diagram that clears away all the confusion and keeps things simple. Trust me and just do it. Draw a rough looking rectangle and mark the numbers where they belong. One number per direction plus some little arrows is really all it takes. From now on, the current quilt will be called the quilt centerpiece.

The magic diagram with a drawing of the
quilt centerpiece

4. Hopefully you've already figured out what you want your pieced border to look like. Most pieced borders are a set of 'repeats' or units that are exactly the same width. These basket blocks with the corner triangles added on are 8 1/2" each which will never sew onto my quilt properly without add-ons or chopping part of a block off. If I sew four of them together, I end up with a horizontal pieced border measurement of 34" plus seams (34 1/2"), definitely larger than the 27 1/4" width of my current quilt centerpiece (see previous magic diagram).

Horizontal pieced border units

Okay, this is where some decisions need to be made about the coping border. For this quilt, I could have easily added four basket blocks together for the vertical pieced border as well, since the quilt centerpiece is only 32" long (see previous magic diagram). But this would make my quilt square. I don't want that, so I'm going to go with five basket block repeats or 42 1/2" plus seams (43").

Vertical pieced border units

At this point you might want to do a quick mock-up on the wall with your quilt centerpiece, the potential coping border fabric and your pieced border. Do you like it? Now's the time to decide.

Auditioning pieced border with Muddy Creek quilt

5. Vertical Coping Borders are next in this crazy, long tutorial. Remember the magic diagram? Draw a rough outline of your pieced borders onto the paper, leaving plenty of room to draw in the lines for coping borders as well. Don't worry about how precise or in proportion things are--this is just for reference. Take the measurements from your horizontal and vertical pieced borders (refer to number 4) and mark it onto your magic diagram. Use little arrows to keep it all straight.

Adding pieced border measurements onto
magic diagram

Time for the math. Take the horizontal width of the pieced border and subtract the width of the quilt centerpiece (34 1/2" minus 27 1/4") OR 34.5 - 27.25 =7.25. Divide this number by 2. That number (7.25 divided by 2 = 3.625) is the measurement of the width of your Vertical Coping Borders. Don't forget to add the seam allowance onto that number as well (3.625 + .5 = 4.125 or 4 1/8"). Okay, that's the width, the hard part! Now for length.

So you don't totally have a panic attack trying to keep track of all these numbers, quickly look at your magic diagram for visual aid. Draw in your Vertical Coping Borders (pictured in orange). Aha! Now you can clearly see that your Vertical Coping Borders need to be 32", the length of the quilt centerpiece. Easy peasy.

Magic Diagram with Vertical Coping Borders

6. Cut out two strips of coping border fabric @ 4 1/8" x 32". Pin thoroughly, matching middle point to middle point and sew onto quilt centerpiece. Iron and measure. Your new quilt centerpiece should be exactly as wide as your horizontal pieced border but don't sew it on yet!

Quilt centerpiece with Vertical Coping Borders

7. Still with me? You're making excellent progress! Go ahead and draw in the lines for your Horizontal Coping Borders (pictured below in green).

Now lets do the math. Take the measurement of the vertical pieced border length (43") and subtract the length of the new quilt centerpiece (still 32"). 43 - 32 = 11. Divide this number by 2. That number is 5 1/2. Don't forget to add seam allowances. 5.5 + .5 = 6. That number is the width of your Horizontal Coping Border. Referring to the magic diagram should quickly remind you that the length of this coping strip will be the same as your horizontal pieced border (34 1/2").

Magic diagram with horizontal coping borders

8. Cut out two strips of coping border fabric @ 6" x 34 1/2". Pin thoroughly, matching middle point to middle point and sew onto quilt centerpiece. Iron and measure. The left and right sides (or the vertical length) of the quilt should now be 43", the exact same length as your vertical pieced borders!

Muddy Creek with all coping borders added

9. Sew vertical pieced borders onto each side of the quilt. Match middle point to middle point as usual and pin thoroughly before sewing.

Muddy Creek with vertical pieced borders added

10. Sew one more repeat or unit onto each end of the horizontal pieced borders. Sew them onto the rest of the quilt, matching points and pinning as usual.

Muddy Creek with borders!

Wallah! Now you have perfectly fitting pieced borders! Feel free to run around the room and do a victory dance.*wink  I have another tutorial about pieced borders that might be helpful as well. You might want to try this first on a smallish quilt, but if your numbers are correct, the size shouldn't ever be an issue. Really, it's just about formulas. Insert the numbers and see your ability to make personalized quilts increase dramatically! I dare you. lol