Insomnia can be good sometimes….it allowed me to get this top together yesterday morning before Baby E came for the day.
I still need to add corner triangles and then it will be ready to quilt. Time to come up with a backing for it.
Baby E and I had fun taking a walk!
It was another lovely day here. Hope you are having a great week!
Linking up with Connie at Free Motion By the River for Linky Tuesday.
Remember these blocks?
I finally pulled them back out and started laying them out.
I had planned to add the red as a straight border but I am loving it finished with setting triangles.
I hope to get this top pieced this week.
It was such a wonderful weekend here in Michigan. The last several days have been sunny and warm, perfect fall weather. Here are a few snapshots from my weekend.
Linking up with Patchwork Times for DWM. And Stitch by Stitch for Anything Goes Monday.
I finally have pics of my completed Quilt of Valor. Seems like I have had this one in process forever. So without further ado:
By the way, while I was still struggling with how to quilt this, I sent a picture to Kathleen at Kathleen Quilts. She is a master machine quilter. She took my picture and created a quilting plan! It was way better than my plan but since I had already started quilting, it was too late to change my plan. I wish I had waited! Click here to see what she would have done with my quilt!
Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Richard and Tanya Quilts for Link a Finish Friday, and Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.
This is a quilt I made way back in 1998 when we lived in Chatou, France. Daughter #1 was just 9 at the time. She helped me hand quilt this in the Baptist fan pattern. I told her if she quilted two complete fans, she could put her name on the label. And she did!
I love this quilt. I love the pattern, it was something I came up with to use up these random bow ties and stars. But it is so much more to me. I will never forget sitting at the frame with her. I just wish I had taken a picture!
I managed to lose a day this week! Mr. Wonderful came home safely from China last night so yesterday was spent working and trying to finish up all the things around the house I wanted to do before he got home. Things like mowing the lawn and cleaning carpets. I did get the quilting done on the wall quilt I am making from my hand dyed fabric.
I dyed these fabrics myself a few years ago. All I have to finish on this one is the binding.
Linking up with Two Little Aussie a Birds for IQuilt and My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday.
Sunday, I showed you bits of a little quilt I was working on made from vintage scraps. The binding is finished and here it is!
I use a single fold binding technique on this and it turned out well except for one thing, I cut my strips too wide! I haven’t done a single fold in a while and had forgotten how narrow I need to cut my strips. I didn’t realize this until the binding was sewn to the front so it stayed that way.
Not perfect, but finished. Â I had a bit of help with my hand stitching.
My little quit finished up at 9″ by 12″. I used part of a feed sack for the back. The binding is a reproduction print in the perfect poison green. It is simply quilted in vertical lines.
I am linking up with Connie at Free MotionBy The River for Linky Tuesday, I Have To Say… for Show and Tell Tuesday, and Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday.
I have had a great time sewing this past weekend. The weather was rainy and it was a perfect time to stay inside and sew. I’ve been trying to come up with a design for a wall quilt using these hand dyed fabrics.
I spent some time just playing at the design wall.
When I thought it was done, I snapped a picture with my iPad.
Then removed the color using a filter.
I actually went through this process several times.
When I was satisfied, I picked up each piece in a row starting with the piece on the left and putting the next piece underneath. I clipped my stacks together with these little clips, always placing the clip at the top.
It can be tricky to keep things in order and this really helped!
This is the finished top.
Time to figure out how to quilt it!
Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday and Stitch by Stitch for Anything Goes Monday.
Hubby is out if town on business this weekend and I have been getting as much sewing time in as possible! I have also done other things but I guess I am making up for time away from the sewing room earlier in the month.
I have been on a bit of a mini kick lately as there has been lots of inspiration coming from Kathie’s blog, Inspired by Antique Quilts. Recently she showed small vintage doll quilt top made of HSTs. It used double pinks and chrome yellow. I remembered that I had a bit of vintage chrome yellow fabric and as a reward for finishing the QOV, I started cutting triangles.
I finished piecing my little top late Friday night and quilted it early Saturday. I watched a Sharon Schamber video showing how she does binding and thought I would try bits of her method on this quilt. It requires the use of Elmer’s School Glue. She fashioned a new tip for the bottle but I found this bottle (purchased at a beauty supply store for under a dollar) in my cupboards:
I bought this bottle with a hand fabric dyeing technique in mind and then never used it. It worked perfectly and was much less expensive than the fancy bottle of Roxanne’s basting glue!
And yes, I realize there are those horrified by the use of glue and those who love it. School glue washes out completely. I have rarely used this method but it comes in handy at times.
The portion of Sharon’s technique I used was how she sews the ends of the binding together. She sews her ends together on the bias but the idea is the same. I would have had to cut another binding strip if I did that on this little quilt and you know that wasn’t going to happen! Ha!
Anyway, I hope I can explain this because it worked really well.
First, when I got close to the end, I folded one end back and pressed as in the photo above. I placed a tiny bit of glue along this fold and then placed the other end of the strip down over top and set the glue by pressing with the iron.
Next I stitched the ends together on the crease formed when I folded the first piece back.
I gently pulled these two ends apart to release the glue and pressed the seam open. I finished sewing the binding to the quilt at the machine.
Because this is a small quilt, I decided to use a single fold binding. So the next thing I did was press the edges of the binding under on the back side to prepare for hand stitching.
And this is what I am doing this morning!
Linking up with Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday.
I have one small scrap left of a very old fabric. No clue who made or designed it. I have used this in so many things. It is one of those odd fabrics that works everywhere. I would love to have more of it.
So if you have any you would like to part with, I would be happy to buy it from you or trade for something else.
Thanks!
The other day, I shared my dilemma with my little shoo fly quilt. It was an early long arming victim of mine and I wanted to save it. I am quite happy to say that I was able to add quilting on my domestic machine and the bagginess in the border that bothered me so is gone!
Here is a reminder of what it looked like before.
I used a slightly darker thread than I had used on the feathers and I did a small stipple around it. I loved the echo and beadboard quilting ideas but my free motion skill on the domestic machine has greatly deteriorated since getting the long arm! Here are close ups.
I was sure I would need to redo the binding at least but that turned out just fine as well.
Thanks for all of your suggestions and ideas. I procrastinated on doing this forever because I wasn’t sure how to tackle it. Now, a year and a half later, it finally feels finished!
Linking up with Sew Can She for Show Off Saturday.
