This is the first time I have gotten this far on a project.

I made this wall hanging for my mom for her retirement gift (her party is the 10th) and I'm confused about the binding. I have 4 strips (blue like the water on the quilt) that are cut 2 inches wide. I want to do a double fold binding. Am I supposed to connect my strips before I start pressing them and sewing them on?

yes, you want your binding to be one long strip, be sure to add several inches for going around the corners and connecting at the end

I usually add an extra 12 inches, it makes it easier for me to sew the ends together :D:D:D

Yes. Connect the strips and than sew it on. I still have a hard time with mitered corners but they get better every time. That is such a cute quilt. I bet she loves it.

You did a wonderful job.

Here are some tutorials that might help:

http://www.quiltedparadise.com/n/215-ezl.jsp

http://tutorials.missouriquiltco.com/

stitch your binding strips together, press in half with wrong sides together so you have one long fabric strip 1" wide then machine stitch using a 1/4" seam raw edges together ( binding and quilt) to the front of the quilt, fold binding over to the back and hand stitch down.
binding is my favorite part, because i know when it is done i have completed another project :) i still struggle with my miter's though...usually on every quilt i will have 2 or 3 perfect miters and one...really bad one...i don't know why...i keep practicing though ;)

there is a tool that i saw at a quilt show that will give you perfect miters everytime. it was really cool to watch this lady make them. will have to look for the address later when the kids are napping.

if you don't know to miter a long strip of binding you can put binding on separately. by that i mean, add to the top and bottom (folding raw ends in). attach. then add to the sides.

A tip I learned recently........when joining the binding strips together (on the diagonal) decrease stitch length
to 2.0. This makes the seam stronger and less noticeable.
Love the quilt......

What are your techniques for hand sewing the back of the binding? Any particular stitch?