A Finish

 Jack's drag around quilt is finished and I am pleased with the way it turned out.

I stitched in the ditch along all the the colored patches and it was easy moving from top to bottom along the inside seam on each block and the back up the outside seam. I carefully stitched over some seams to avoid ending and restarting. I can't easily use a hand needle to bury threads so I start and end with tiny stitches in the ditch where it is hard to see. The backing on this quilt makes the overstitched lines invisible. I stitched 2 lines corner to corner across each focus fabric square.

I sewed the binding in my usual way, sewing on the front and turning to the back and fusing the binding with narrow strips of Wonder Under;  I am careful to cover the stitching. I sewed the binding on with red  thread and it was easy to see and cover on the back. I stitch in the ditch from the  front and my stitching catches the edge of the binding on the back. Sometimes the stitches on the back miss the edge a little and I need to do some hand stitching and sometimes the binding on the back is  little wider and the stitching is a bit far in from the edge. Because it has become so difficult for me to do any hand sewing, I paid more attention to my quarter inch seam when stitching the binding to the front. It paid off by the edge of the seam on the back falling in the exact place it needed to be. I have been doing my binding this way for a long time and this is the first time ever that the stitches caught the edge of the binding in the perfect place on the edge of the entire perimeter. 

This is one corner folded back.

This is  what it looks like on he front. probably not he same corner because the photo was an afterthought.

I think a rather long time of no quilting and recognizing that arthritis in my hands it here to stay has forced me to develop better habits. Sometimes you have to search hard to find an up side to an unwelcome change in one's life. There it is and I'll take it.

This quilt will be on it's way next week, along with a little draw string bag of the same fabric for big brother. When they were here Elijah saw the fabric and asked "For me?". Of course, I have to make something to send along for him. The bag is waiting for me to get started.

A Finish

I finished the Disappearing Nine Patch today.

I spread it out on my bed for a photo shoot and Jack said, "This is our quilt for the bed for the rest of the summer".  Well......OK; it really does look  good in our bedroom. The white background print lightens up the room.











 I never thought about using it in our bedroom until I put it on the bed and saw how well it goes with the curtains. And, how could I not have thought about how well it would look with the "Red Flowers blog banner" quilt that hangs on the wall above the bed? I have a plain green coverlet on the bed and the quilt will go across the long way and just curve over the edges on the foot and sides. I have a little bit smaller spiral log cabin quilt across the foot of the bed now and I need something different to cover the pillows. I know Jack will say what I have on the pillows works fine. It does NOT so I am rolling it around in my mind.


 This is the back of the quilt. I had 6 blocks left over  and used them in 2 sets of 3 to make the backing longer.











No matter how I angled my camera I wasn't able to get a good photo of the quilting. Maybe it will show up if you click on the picture to enlarge it. It is pretty simple, quilting in the ditch around all the 6 inch blocks and then using the #4 Bernina serpentine stitch across all the squares

I did the binding on the machine; arthritis in my hands makes it a long drawn out and  painful process by hand.
I stitch the binding to the front and press it away from the quilt.  I then pull it around to the back to cover the stitching and press with steam. I use 1/4 inch Stitch Witchery to fuse the binding to hold it in place and stitch in the ditch on the front. When I come to the corner miter I stitch along the edge of the miter fold to the point and back and then continue on down the next side.
These next 3 photos show the binding and stitching. The true color is closer to the corner photos.

Binding - Corner front

Binding -  corner back

Binding - along the edge

I am minus Lucy's company today. She is at the vet's today getting spayed.  I can't say I will miss her "suspicious" behavior. We have had 2 separate weeks of her rolling on the floor making sounds that bordered on singing. Oh, and then there is her unusual posture. One of the 9 year old great grandsons asked his cousin what she was doing, the other 9 year old looked at her and said " She's catching mice". I'm glad he didn't ask Jack!

A Finish

I have finished my Triple 4 Patch, binding and all.  I had long strips of the floral striped fabric from cutting the borders from the length of the fabric. I decided to use the lighter blue stripes for the binding.

 It looks darker here but I think you can get the idea. The lighter stripes were about 2 inches wide so I laid the edge of my ruler at the
edge of the lighter strip and cut 1/2 inch into the darker stripe for 2 1/2 inch strips. So my strips were like this on the left.

I folded it in half and pressed it and laid the strip on the edge on the quilt front with the raw edge of the darker fabric face up on the raw edge of the quilt.


After I stitched the binding all around I pressed it away from the quilt. You can see it in this photo
before I pressed it around to the back with only the lighter fabric showing.  I wrapped the binding to the back and pressed it down and secured it with thin strips of fusible web (for me this works so much better than pins); I stitched with the #4 Bernina stitch from the front.






 This is how it looks on the front. I didn't care to have the entire width of the stitches on the binding because it is already stitched on.





I wanted to have the entire width of the stitching on the binding on the back of the quilt, both for appearance and so the edge would be flat and secure. I used variegated thread  so it may be hard to see unless you enlarge the photo.


I couldn't get a shot of the full quilt today because there is no space to spread it out. I got all the the Christmas  quilts and wall hangings and linens out the they were are still all over my bed.

Another Finish

The baby quilt is finished. I sewed the binding on yesterday, using my usual method of stitching to the front and turning to the back. I use thin strips of Wonder Under to fuse the binding down before I stitch it from the front.
For baby or kids quilts I usually stitch with the serpentine stitch. For other quilts I stitch in the ditch along the binding. You can see the front and back in the photo. I forgot to change the bobbing to variegated thread, which I used on the front. I doesn't show the color well in the pictures. It is a very pale pastel that shows up more in real life.

To go with the placemats I finished this week, I made these two hexie hot pads. I found the tutorial here on "sewshecan"  blog; they measure 7 x 10. I used some of the fabrics from the bundle that I didn't use for the placemats. I have more fabric from the bundle and the extra yardage I bought for the backing so I will be making something else before I add the rest to the scrap basket.

Jellyroll Finish

I finished my 2014 Jellyroll quilt a few days ago. the top shot has it on the floor and below is over the back of the couch where it will live from Memorial Day until Labor day. Well at least until sometime in July or August when we will be moving and then I'm not sure where it will live for the summer months when I usually put out all my red, white and blue quilts because all the summer holidays are patriotic.



These next 4 photos show some of the steps for attaching my binding by machine. Not shown are the first 2 steps where I press from the front first, pressing away from the body of the quilt and then I turn it over and fold the binding down to cover the stitches and press again. Shown below, I trim away the ravelings on the edge and clean it up with a lint roller , then I insert a 1/4 inch strip of Wonder-under or  Stitch Witchery and press the binding over the fusible strip making sure the stitches are covered. I either stitch in the ditch from the front with a straight stitch or use the Bernina #4 stitch right on the inside edge of the binding; that is what I did here. I quilted with red, white and blue thread using the wavy lines in both directions.

Signs of Spring and a Finish

It started snowing Saturday afternoon and it came down continuously until sometime after we went to bed. this is what we awakened to Sunday morning. There was at least 6 inches of snow on top of the car, so much for spring. But wait, look at that nice blue sky and in the photo on the right I can see that the leaf buds getting larger every day.



 As for the snow on the car, the sun was out and the heavy snow slid right off with little effort and the streets were all clear as they had been plowed during the early hours. Today the snow around our building has diminished to the point of showing big areas of lawn.

 I finished the binding on the auction quilt from Quilt Camp 2013 and I went over it to make sure all the threads were trimmed and buried and I went over it again with the lint roller. I didn't want to put it on the design wall which is covered with threads and lint and I didn't want to lay it out on the floor so here is just one corner on the dining room table . I used the Kona Bone binding and I hope it will appeal to someone besides me.

These shots are of the  machine finished binding; the color of the border is correct in the photo on the left.

The lower photo shows 2 of the corners on the back. It looks like there is net or tulle over the fabric but that must be from the angle that I held the camera. I am pretty satisfied with my new method of sewing the binding to the front and then using Stitch Witchery to  fuse it down on the back before stitching in the ditch right next to the binding on the front. There was a 2 inch area, on one side, where the binding did not get caught on the back.  I stitched it down by hand rather than go over it with the machine. Maybe next time I will get it perfect, maybe not.

 I sewed my nine blocks of made fabric together this morning. I had auditioned several fabrics for the border and settled on a stripe that has all the colors used in the body of the piece. When I put it on the table to check for the size I want for the borders I could see that if I put any borders on at all it will be a rather awkward size to use on the table at a 90 degree angle. The two side corners would stick out a few inches but not enough to hang down. So, I am just going to bind it with the stripe. The colors remind me of Easter egg colors so I think I will finish this up and use it for a couple of weeks. It is nice and spring like so I might use it until I put out my patriotic quilts for the summer.

A finish

The weather cooperated on Monday and I was able to pick up my Bernina. It is running well and it seems that all of the issues have been taken care of. After dinner Monday I started quilting this little quilt that was all  layered up and I almost finished quilting it on Monday. It is so nice to have the knee lift on the Bernina again. I set it aside yesterday and got back to it this morning to finished it up.









 I used this orange fabric for the backing and binding. I bought this last year for backing for another quilt and I didn't like it. I didn't like it for the quilt for which I bought it but I also didn't like it at all. I had 6 yards of it and I used a little bit of it for scrappy Many Trips Around quilt and didn't like it there either and only used a couple of strips. I gave  away half of what I had left and when I was looking for a back for this quilt I thought it was a good way to get rid of  use up the rest of it. I still have a piece 14" by WOF and now guess what. I like it A LOT. I guess it just needed the right quilt to show up it's bright cheerfulness.

These shots show how I quilted it with the Bernina #4 stitch which I also used on the binding.
I had planned to use a variegated thread in primary colors but ran across this bright citrus colored thread and with the orange  binding and backing it was a better fit.
I  finish all of my binding by machine any more. It is easier on my old hands. I used to sew it on the back and turn to the front but lately I sew it on the front and turn it to the back and fuse it down with 1/4 inch Stitch Witchery. Then I stitch it on the machine from the front. I either stitch in the ditch, for a more serious quilt, or for something more whimsical I use the #4 Bernina stitch. I am very pleased with the results. Today I ran out of 1/4 inch Stitch Witchery and I cut 1/4 inch strips of Wonder Under and peeled away the paper before I tucked it under the binding and it worked well too.

256 HST's

I finished quilting the baby quilt for the church closet. the next one I make with HST's will have larger pieces.  I quilted this in the ditch and to me it looks like there is too much quilting. I  am also not too happy with the quilting in the borders.  Maybe it was too few pins or the poly batting but it starts out nice and flat at the beginning of each side but it is rippled after about the center. I am not going to fix anything because this is not going to hang on a wall and will probably end up on the floor or in a playpen and no doubt it will be washed often.
When I decided on the border and backing fabric I found that I had cut out a small chunk of it for something and I would have to do some piecing to stretch the backing. That's what happens when you have something for a long time and after every audition you put it back on the shelf; eventually you cut a piece of it for something. Very soon after doing that you will decide it just the thing you need and it WONT be enough. These two shots show the backing . I found another fabric that I had for awhile and had auditioned many times but never used and though they were from different designers and bought several years apart I think they are a perfect fit.

These two shots above show the front and back of the binding. (I still need to clean up the stray shreds of thread  which are hard to see sometimes but they sure show up in a photo close up).
I really have a hard time doing a lot of hand stitching anymore so I do my binding completely on the machine. I used to stitch it to the back and turn it to the front and finish with the machine on the front. Recently I started to stitch the binding to the front and then press it toward the binding and turn it over and press the  binding down and use 1/4 inch stitch witchery to hold it in place. I finish it from the front by stitching in the ditch along the edge of the binding or on children's quilts or something whimsical I use the #4 stitch on the Bernina, as I did here.

Front                            Back               

These photos on the right are showing the front and back of a corner of the binding, stitched in the ditch, on the T shirt quilt. I finished it on Sunday and I will post a photo soon, after I have given it to the recipient.

I guess that when I shop I tend to get what I came to get and don't look around. That is probably because Jack is usually waiting in the car for me.
I had no idea that stitch witchery came in 1/4 inch width until I ran out of the 1/2 inch and had to buy some more. I had been cutting the width in half; before that I was using strips of Wonder Under cut 1/4 inch wide. I got the whole idea from something Melody Johnson said on her blog and something Mari from The Quilting Edge wrote (probably from someone else too). Someone was using glue to hold the binding down until  it was stitched but I hate getting glue on my fingers and then sticking to everything. I think this works pretty well and it is so much easier for me than using pins. It works better on fabric that is not black or navy blue or dark brown.