Last week I showed you my finished baby quilt. It had a piano key board border.
The corners looked mitered.
They aren’t mitered.
I used Bonnie Hunter’s trick to make them.
In the blog post I wrote “The outer border was a made by sewing strings together and trimming them to 5 1/2″. I used Bonnie Hunter’s “fake miter corner” method to make the mitered corners.”
That had a lot of people confused. I got several email saying something like this…I have been a Bonnie Hunter fan for a long time and don’t know about her “fake mitered corner” method. They asked me to explain…so here I go.This is the quilt Tumalo Trail. You can find the quilt in Bonnie’s book Scraps and Shirttails II. It’s an awesome book and I highly recommend it.
I haven’t made the quilt yet (it’s on my bucket list). That doesn’t mean I haven’t read through the directions a dozen times. I read the quilt books all the time.
Check out the corners. Don’t they look mitered? When I first looked a the quilt, I was sure the corners were mitered. They aren’t. Check out the instruction page. See that it’s a pieced block on the corner?
How awesome is that trick? I call it a “fake mitered corner”. I don’t know that she calls it that…I do.
She also does this on her Talkin’ Turkey quilt in her String Fling book. I know as that’s the one I’m working on now.
Bonnie is full of tricks and wonderful hints. I suggest spending LOTS of time on her website. Follow this link and you’ll find lots of great ideas and suggestions. I also suggest watching Quilt Cam that she hosts. She is always sharing ideas that make quilting easier…or ideas that make things look great like these “fake mitered corners”.
If you only have one or two of her books…I also recommend getting all of them. They are my favorite quilt books…I also recommend reading through the directions of quilts you don’t plan on making. You can learn tips and techniques just like I did simply by reading and observing.
Bonnie had quilt-cam last night and demonstrated a ruler that she may be getting! I agree she is so real I hope to meet her one day. Your baby quilt has inspired me to use some blocks I found when cleaning to make a donation quilt, thanks for sharing!
I am thinking about buying spare copies of the Strings and Shirttails, since they are going out of print. . .I have learned so much from her and YOU, I am a far better quilter because of the two of you!
I can’t imagine that they are going out of print.
Jo, I love this quilt! That piano key border is the perfect choice….yes, I did know about Bonnie’s fake mitered corners….I have used them myself, and love how they look!
Thanks for sharing this quilt!
I think she said Scraps and Shirttails 1 is going out of print.