Studio SALE...Spread the word!

So, rather than be productive today (where's the fun in that?!), I decided it was clean-the-studio-out day!  My fabric storage is out of control, and messy too.  

I have a vicious habit of hoarding absolutely everything - just look at this piece that has fussy-cut hexies cut from it,  This was used on Bouquet Royale.  Do you really think I will use the rest of the fabric?!

I went through every stack of fabric, pulling out those that I know I won't use.  I applied that "cleaning the closet" rule we all hear.  If you haven't worn it in 12 months, toss it.  Mine was more like "if you don't think you'll use it in 5 years, maybe toss it".   The toss table got much fuller than this.

The upshot of my cleaning (I have fabric coming to start a new quilt...gotta make room!), is that I get to have a little sale. I have some gadgets, some fabric, and some partially constructed goodies that really just need a new home.  Please email msolomo1@maine.rr.com if there is anything you'd like.  I will combine shipping if possible if you want more than one item.  Paypal if possible.

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You all probably know I am a template junkie.  I cleaned out 4 that I don't use often enough.

Longarm (1/4") thick templates:

top: Jamie Wallen's small Mystical 45 (14"), lists at $30.  My price $20+ $7.50 ship. SOLD

center: 8" plume  $10 + $5 ship  SOLD

bottom: 1-1/2 and 3" rope tool lists at $19...my price $12 + $5 ship

left: straight line template (no lines on it) with handle  $12 plus $7.50 ship

Northcott Stonehenge fabrics:  SOLD

Some are decent sized yardage; ones on right are good sized, assorted scraps.
Pile on the left, from top to bottom:
  charcoal 1-1/2yd
  stone 1/4yd
  dark gray/brown 29"x32"
  lt gold, small metallic flecks 1/2yd
  gold metallic 1/2yd
  brown (was a wide backing) 29"x96"
  lt gray 34"x42"

You may also have these teeny-tiny 1/2" pieced mosaic strips.  There are eight at 2-1/2" x 26"

Stonehenge fabrics  cost $25 plus $12 flat shipping box

Partially completed quilt (parts and yardage): SOLD

This is an unfinished delectable mountains quilt, finished size 68"x68".  Fabrics are red, green ablack and beige, but not necessarily holiday-like.Includes pattern, and fabrics. Many pieces are stitched; all are cut.  Bag on left is all 2" HST's that need to be pressed. Red yardage may be for binding or extending the border.  Two pieces are 21"x48" and 42"x64".  $30 plus $8 ship.

Two Jelly rolls: BOTH SOLD

This entails 17 strips of a fun jelly roll.  I no longer know the pattern. $8 plus $2.50 ship.

 This is a FULL 40 pc jelly roll.  Fabrics are somewhat seasonal.  $20 plus $5 ship

Canvas: 
These are 1/2yd cuts of canvas.  $ 16 plus $5 ship

Blocks and yardage:  SOLD

These 24 12-1/2" blocks (4 blocks shown below) were made a few years ago as part of a quilt block swap.  A couple of the blocks need mending.  These are all pieced, and were intended to be a simple alternative to the appliqued tea-leaf pattern.

These also go with the Tea-leaf blocks: ~25 5" blocks in the green fabrics,  1-1/6yds of the spider mum fabric, and the pattern.  $18 plus $5 ship

Silk Dupioni Quilt and fabrics:  SOLD

This mostly finished, original 38"square quilt is all silk dupioni.  I started this in 2012-2013.  The appliqued edges are not yet stitched, and there is still foundation paper under them.  All fabrics are interfaced.

 Piecing on the quilt is generally very good, although this was my first opportunity stitching interfaced silk.  While I like the quilt, I just don't see myself finishing it anytime soon.

 The following dupioni scraps (4 colors are FQ size, 2-3 are fat eighth, and rest are smaller) go with the quilt.  Silk quilt and fabrics $60 plus $8.50 ship

Twenty-six 12-13" Bowtie Blocks:  SOLD

These were purchased last year off of ebay at a time when I wanted to make a vintage quilt for an article.  When I decided I didn't want to write the article, I no longer needed the blocks.  Each hand-pieced block is made of 4 smaller bow-ties.  Note that the hand piecing is not perfect.  $12 plus $5 ship.

Now I have several offerings of fabric.  Many of these are of varying sizes.  I will indicate if there is yardage, as opposed to FQ or scrap size.  If you are a charity quilter, or like making scrap quilts, BOY have I got a load of goodies for you!

ALL FABRIC SCRAPS AND YARDAGE SOLD EXCEPT THE VINTAGE SHEET

Yellows... SOLD
Ones on left are 1/2yd or under.  Ones on right are 2yd and 1yd, respectively.  There are 2-1/2 lb of fabric (7 of FQ size and at least 3 of 3/8yd size).  $12 plus $7 ship

One Vintage sheet with flowers
$10 (includes shipping)

Purples/pinks: SOLD
This includes a LOT of fabric - 3lb.  There are at least 5 FQ, 4 pieces at 3/8 or more, 4-5 over 1/2 yd.  Estimated 6-7yds.  $18 plus flat rate shipping box $12

Browns: SOLD
4-1/2pounds of brown!...at least 8 FQ, four at 1/2yd, 5 at 3/8 yd and more.  Estimated 6 yards. $25 plus $12 flat rate ship box.

Florals: SOLD
Many pieces totaling 2 lb.  $10 plus $5 ship

Kiddie and novelty: SOLD

Allshown in next 2 photos $20 plus flat rate $12 box ship.  4lb of mixed stuff.  There's at least 6 FQ, blue letter print is over 1/2yd. 

pirate fabric is 1yd, others are 3/8 to 1/2yd each.

Moda CrossWeave Fabric:  SOLD

This is left over from my Kaleidoscopic Calamity quilt, which was made 3 years ago.  All pieces are 1/4 to 3/8yd each or so.  $12 plus $5 ship.

Blues: SOLD

2-3/4lb of fabrics, with largest pieces 1/2yd.  There are about 8 FQ size, 6-8 at 3/8yd and at least 3 that are 1/2yd.  Estimated 6 yards.  $17 plus 8 ship.

Greens: SOLD

Clearly this is the largest, as I love green.  6 lb of green fabric.  Several pieces are ~1/2 yd.  There are about 6-8 FQ size, two bags of mixed sizes.

 These two are 1 and 2 yards, respectively.  Total for all green is $36 plus $15 ship flat rate.

Elizabeth Studio fabric:  SOLD

This is a 2 yd piece of beach panels. Pieces in next photo in total exceed 2 yd.  $15 plus $6 ship.

STILL FOR SALE...
Finished 54"x60" lap quilt:

$50 plus $12 ship.  This is made from quilt-shop quality cotton quilting fabrics.  It has a cotton batting, and hand stitched binding.  The quilting is a simpler edge-to-edge.  It would be perfect for a grandma that has several grandkids!

 OK, there you have it.  Please email me at msolomo1@maine.rr.com if there is anything you would like.  I will accept paypal as payment, or personal check if I know you.

The Finishing Details - Part 2

Part 1 to this series on The Finishing Details is here.   For those of you joining me, these posts are about the detailed work involved in finishing a quilt, once the quilting is done.  

I can happily report that the binding is on this beast.  It measures 72" square, but because the edge is scalloped, it takes more like 78" of binding per side.  Believe me, I am measuring it too!  When I finished the last finishing post, I had just stitched on the double piping.  I was waiting for the actual binding fabric to arrive.  It came to me 8 days ago, so all things considered, this is one of my fastest bindings to finish.  Some bindings take me 2-3 weeks.  I dedicated some hard time during the day to doing it because I have some commitments coming up, and need this done.

 One edge of the sleeve is hand stitched down too.  I will get to the other this week.

I found a deep blue/indigo/black batik.  It's not the exact fabric of the quilt, but close enough.  This binding took nearly a yard to make bias binding.  To cut the binding, stitch it into a continuous strip, and press it so it's ready to stitch to the quilt - 45 minutes.

Stitching the binding to the quilt...not so fast.  This quilt does have a mere 48 scallops, which is a far cry from my Big Bertha (which has something like 98), but the fact that the fabric is dark, and the double pipings make the process slower.  It is very hard to see exactly where to sew with such dark fabrics.  To machine sew the binding to the quilt - about 3-1/2 hours.

Of course there is more than just putting the needle to the binding and having it done.  I often have to go back and modify where the line of stitching falls so that the binding ends up right beside the piping, nice and tight. All in all, I am mostly pleased with the binding.  The "peaks" at the scallop inverted V's are more rounded, but I guess that is to be expected with double piping.

Hand stitching of the binding to the backside took me right at 12 hours.  Honestly, I am very surprised that it was not longer than that.  Felt like forever.

 (still didn't get the miters hand stitched down when this photo was taken, but rest assured that this IS done.  Judges look for that sort of thing!)

Regarding the finish work...there is more BUT with the sleeve nearly on and the binding done, I can cut my losses at any time and call it done.  I have a couple of things to fix that I have found while staring at the binding all week.  That was bound to happen.

 Last step in the Finishing for this quilt is adding some crystals.  I pick and choose which quilts get crystals, as there are 1-2 judges out there that really ding you hard for them.  Seriously, I think that this quilt is enhanced by the crystals, so I am taking the time to put them on, regardless of the outcome.  Here's a peek at one corner...these are teeny-tiny, size 6!  There are others that are much larger.  On another post I will show what I am doing with the crystals, as they are tastefully arranged, and not just stuck on willy-nilly.  Hopefully this will be the last thing I do before I send this puppy off to its first show.

 Label...It is on...a whopping 60 minutes to cut, write, turn the edge under and hand stitch.  It's really nothing fancy. OK, it's on the ugly side, but it is DONE!

Yesterday was a snow day, which means that there was not much quilting to be done.  I stayed upstairs with my troops and worked on designs for an upcoming quilt that I hope to load within 2-3 weeks!  Until then...sew on!

Current Client Quilts

Last week the binding fun was mostly on hold, as I quilted on this large beauty.  It is 84" of applique! I regret that I don't know the pattern or designer, but I do know it took the maker a long time!  There's not an abundance of open space for quilting, but I still like to try to work some design in.

The owner sent wool batting, which is really a must if you have an applique quilt.  She also told me to plan on this hanging on a wall, rather than being on a bed.  That just means that denser quilting is fine.  While I would quilt this dense for a bed quilt for myself, some people don't want that amount of stiffness on their beds.  Seriously, though, it softens with use.

 I used about 3500 yards of Bottomline thread -- that is a 60wt thread.  It is really fine, leaving mostly just texture.  For a quilt with this much color and busyness in the applique, I didn't want to add anything but texture to the top.

 She back stuffed that bird a little bit (it's pretty puffy!).

 I was seriously getting tired of stitching pebbles by the time I finished.

 The border has a pretty pin-striping, with some feather sprays coming out of the larger floral arrangements.

 Lotsa leaves...

This is a cute lap quilt made by Andrea.  A couple years ago I quilted nearly a dozen quilts for her to be part of her wedding dowry.  She has one more, and all of these (if I understand correctly) are going to the Dallas Quilt show to be part of an exhibit.  Maybe she'll send me pictures!

I chose the pumpkin seed pattern for the center because there were several fabrics in the quilt that had this same pattern.  It was an easy sell.  This design was a good choice too because it lays symmetrically in the ivory octagons, and a pantograph would not have.

 These fabrics are on the modern edge, so I chose a free-handed border that was a little edgier.  I wasn't sure, but love it now that it is off of the machine.  This has one layer of 80/20 batting and is stitched with a sea-foam Omni (40 wt) thread, which matches the outer border.  The color shows subtly on all of the fabrics which is nice.

This design is free-handed, rather than stitched using a circle template.  It is expected that there are natural variations.  All in all, I think it looks pretty uniform though!

I am still working on the binding of the quilt I showed last time, and will have some times to report soon (as the continuation of "finishing your quilt").

Time to get my kiddo to gymnastics!