The Lazy Quilter’s Guide to House Borders

I’ve received quite a few messages asking about the side borders on my house blocks. My ‘Home for the Holidays’ pattern doesn’t include instructions for side borders as they are arbitrary and just something I added when I started making my Halloween quilt. But since there seems to be some interest in how I make my borders, I thought I’d share my process with you. For the record, I detest math. I avoid quilt math like the plague, so my slapdash way of adding these borders is what I like to refer to as the “lazy quilter method.” Hope this helps answer some questions!

Step 1: Grab four scraps, two for the ground and two for the sky. Make sure they’re a bit larger than whatever size you think you’d like your final borders to be. Set aside in two pairs as shown.

Step 2: Grab one pair and sew the two scraps together. Don’t worry about irregular edges or one scrap being wider than the other. We’ll trim them down later.

Step 3: Using the grid on your cutting mat, align the horizon line (where the ground meets the sky fabric) with a horizontal line on your grid. This ensures your horizon line will be straight. Use a rotary cutter and ruler to trim one of the vertical sides so that you have a straight edge to attach to the house block.

Step 4: Repeat the process with the second pair of scraps, making sure to trim the opposite vertical side so that it attaches to the other side of the house block.

Step 5: Attach the borders to the house block, making sure to align the border horizon lines with the ground line of the main house block. Press borders open.

Step 6: Trim off border edges to whatever final size you like.