You thought I was Crazy!

I received quite a few "boy you are gutsy" comments after my last post where I talked about painting on my finished quilt. They all made me smile, and think, "yup", they get me completely. I'm if nothing else, gutsy. More appropriately, I may be crazy. Seriously, I spent however many hours (let's just guess 50) piecing the quilt. Then another 50-60 to quilt the quilt. And then this crazy woman comes at it with a paint brush and the knowledge that this will be permanent, like it or not. I had a vision. I tested the paints on a sample piece of purple, and I had my own self-faith that it would work.
OK, the verdict is in. I do like it. No, I love it! It is the effect I was going after. The purple stripe is too wide (5-6") o just stand alone and although the scrolly-vinework quilting is pretty in gold thread, it probably did not show up from more than 6 feet away. My sincere appologies on not showing the entire quilt. It is here unquilted if you'd like a look. I want to keep it under the cloak of secrecy until it travels to MQX in April.

In my absolute avoidance to work on a couple of client obligations, I have made good progress on both of my quilts this week, despite having all 3 wild things home from school yesterday on account of snow. On Tuesday, I had the reconcilliation that I really di not like the binding on this next quilt. Remember it?...it was tan. The tan Kona was too thick for a double fold binding, and looked bulky. It also showed ever little waver on the front and the back. I love the look of the binding matching the outer color of the quilt, but it just had to be different this time. I ripped the binding off completely (about 5 hours of work). In most places, it was stitched 2-3 times because to trying to get it right next to the piping. Yikes. On Wednesday morning, I went to Mardens and got a half yard of 3 options - med green, deep green and more tan (single fold ???). In the end, I did a binding on bias in the dark green. Why do I always forget how wonderful bias bindings are?? They are so soft to sew on, and it is way smoother than an on-grain binding. It's done and it looks much better than before. Plus, I think I like it better too. Win-win.

Many people hav emailed about the Judy Mathieson quilt I posted last month, and where to get the pattern. I have a book of her's from the library called Mariner's Compass Quilts, and it has the central medallion (Costa Rica Cartwheel) and several other stars as well. I would assume that the checkerboard design is in one of her other books (how to draft it that is). Happy hunting and sewing.

Progress on the Little Things

As you know, we got a new kitten a week ago (the orange blur). On account of his constant need for snuggling, I have hardly done any hand stitching in the evening. This is a regular play session (aka butt whopping) with our other cat Sally, who has adjusted to his presence nicely. I have, however, been a blocking fool. My first quilt (65" square) is done (the drying that is - took 5 days in the winter air), the binding and piping are machined on, and I have started the hand stitching for the binding. It will probably take close to a week to finish this. I have also ordered a bunch of crystals for this quilt. The dynamic carpenters star will look fantastic with a little sparkle. Not every quilt needs sparkles, but this onewill be awesome with it. It's heading to MQX in April for all of you that are curious.

Here's a peek of the backside of the above quilt, with our newest baby (recently named Picasso) in the background. That is one sweet kitty!

My second personal quilt had a little bit of last-minute finishing on the quilting a few days ago. I spent last week ripping out all the SID because I discovered that the tension was not so great. What a pain... I put it back in in about 2 hours time (8 hours to remove, 2 hours to restitch!). It's much better this time. Yesterday, I declared it DONE, cut off all the excess backing, and today it is soaking wet and on the blocking board. We are anxious to get the furniture in the bedroom back in order. Considering the fact that it is 7F outside today (and my bedroom is a brisk 59F), it will probably take a week to dry this quilt. At $80-90 per week to heat our house, It's not worth jacking up the bedroom heat just for a quilt that I don't need done for a while! The piping and binding for this one are all done too - just waiting for a dry quilt. I do, however, need to get to work making/designing some labels for all my quilts nearing completion that will likely be printed off by Spoonflower.

BTW...anybody like Gumbo?? It was our New Year's Day meal, and a favorite of mine. I'm considering a Gumbo post if anyone is interested. Have a warm week.

Goings On for the week

The week is over. I have had some good work time this week, with school starting. Despite it being a short week (Tues-Thurs), I still had calm, productive quilting time. I have done one customer quilt, and taken in a couple more to get done in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I am frantically trying to get all the last details of the Seaglass quilt finished up. This week was for binding and the sleeve (which is approaching done).
I have the last of the crystals that are being put on this quilt due to arrive next week. The binding was time-consuming, but is so worth it in the end. The micro-piping coordinates with the backing and tones in the sand fabrics. It also stiffens the edge to help hold the edges from ruffling while hanging. I also went to the pain-staking trouble to align all of the changes in binding fabric with where the border fabrics change. It's a nice effect, but took lots of tweaking.

Before we left on vacation 2 weeks ago, I was working on my so called "fast pieced quilt". It was supposed to be designed with minimal piecing so it could be more of a quilting project than a piecing project. Oh, was I so wrong. I have learned I am incapable of doing easy and simple and fast piecing. My mind thrives on the complicated and intricate patterns, and even better when they intertwine. This is lacking a couple more borders still, but you get the idea.

These are some of Northcott's stonehenge fabrics from the Amazon and Maui (I think) lines. They are so gorgeous; I just love them, even more than the Stonehenge ones I used on my Postcards quilt. My heart beats to purple and green. Just a simple fact. A few of the materials have gold leafing on them too.

One more looksee...

I have been helping my 9 year old design and sew a placemat. And my 5 year old is attempting to hand quilt a doll blankie that I pieced on machine. They are having fun, but it's eating into my time!

And lastly, I loaded the silk wholecloth this afternoon. It is only 36" square so in theory, it ought not take that long (famous last words, I know). I have only done this much, and I have things to rip out and redo. The Bottomline thread is giving me frequent fits on this job, making little nests, and bunching out when it should not. From a few feet away, it may look OK. My eye is too trained to want the feathers more uniform and areas of symmetry to be actually symmetrical. I may leave it and opt to fix things when the rest is stitched. On the bright side, the silk is not hard to stitch on, just a bit nervewracking.

Binding 101: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

I have been wanting to write a segment about bindings for some time now. It is probably one of the most understated items on a quilt, but a very important one. Nobody will ooh and aah over a quilt because of it's binding, but a bad binding will sure draw one's attention away from an otherwise very nice quilt. Now I don't proclaim to be an expert at bindings, but over the last few years, I have managed to figure out a few things about bindings (largely from making mistakes & learning from them).

There several ways to "finish" off the edges of a quilt; a binding is just one of them. For the sake of this lesson, let's ignore things like zigzagging the edge or turning the quilt inside out, and focus on just "bindings" in the classical sense. I know of a couple of methods for bindings, one of which is used more commonly. The French Fold or Double Fold method is what many people like to use. It is usually made from 2 1/4" strips, either straight cut or bias cut, pressed in half, sewn around the periphery of the quilt, and finished most commonly by hand on the back side. This link is one I found last year, and like. The photographs are very clear, as is the instruction. Here is another particularly attractive binding tutorial by Heather Bailey. This one shows how to clearly connect the two ends of the binding so as not to have that unsightly lump at the seam, an additional plus for a good binding. Furthermore, her fabrics are marvelous so have a look!

I used to be guilty of doing a single-fold binding because I thought in the end it saved fabric. It does, but the double fold is much more durable if the quilt is going to be used, gives a nice firm edging, and eliminates the need to turn under the binding edge before sewing it down. Do yourself a favor...Use double fold! You will be happier in the end.

Pay close attention to how the corners are done, as this is the only real hard thing about the binding. Once you can make binding corners as shown in the two links, you are golden! Take the time and practice because this corner style is WAY nicer than piecing the four binding pieces separately and having seams all over the corners. Looks better, plus it is one less place your quilt may tend to fall apart with repeated use and washings.

The convention does seem to be a narrow, tight binding, but play with this. I, personally, often use 2-1/4" strips for double fold binding as this uses the least amount of material, but I like them a little wider too, say using 2-3/4" strips. The wider binding on the finished quilt tends to pull & twist less because you have not "pulled" on it to make it so tight. And lastly... when sewing the binding pieces together, the strips should definitely be cut on 45 degree angle to minimize the bulk - if you chose not to make a continuous strip of binding.

Another one of my pet peeves about bindings are when they are machine sewn down on the back of the quilt. The machine does a great job putting the binding ONTO the quilt. It does a horrible job stitching it to the backside of the quilt. You can't see the other side while machine sewing! This is where the time-consuming hand-stitches are a MUST. Machined bindings are ugly and never look as good as the alternative. You have taken all this time to design and sew your quilt and either hand or machine quilt your quilt...take a little more time to hand finish the edge of the binding.

Bindings are that one last place that you can invoke a little style to your finished quilt. I have seen lovely little striped bindings and the especially fun scrappy pieced bindings. A nice dark binding will help to ground the edges of the quilt to the eye. I also am a huge fan of a binding that blends right into the edge of the quilt because it is the same fabric as the border onto which it is sewn. Each has it's place on certain quilts. Experiment and play with the colors to know and learn what will work best for your quilt.

One other possible type of binding is to make an invisible binding as seen here. I have never made one of these as I usually like the look of a traditional binding, but it is an interesting idea. There is a nice example of an invisible binding from Luisa here. And lastly, if you like something totally different, try a Prairie Point border. It's fun, perhaps more time consuming, but a great way to use up those scraps!

That's my opinion...I welcome your's! Please comment for me what you like to do for bindings, any favorite binding links and tips. I look for the inputs!