Hooray for the Red, White and Blue!

Happy 4th of July!!!

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I'm so happy to have my new calendar quilt, Flowercrackers! decorating my home this holiday :*)

This is the 6th quilt I've made from Kim Schaefer's Calendar Quilts book, and I still have to finish the August project before I will be finished making all of the ones I really love.  I have used this book of patterns more than any other quilting book I own!

This quilt is made almost completely from scraps too!  Many of the fabrics are pieces left over from my Dear Jane quilt.  I really dug deep into my scrap bins and anything red, cream, or blue was fair game.  I only used yardage for the binding and backing.  That green plaid leaf you see near the bottom is from a recycled men's shirt :*)

I quilted this one very simply, choosing once again to stitch down the applique as I quilted, cutting out that one step and speeding up the finish considerably :)  I always love picking out yummy threads for quilting!!!

For the borders I just did a simple straight stitch following some of the lines, using painter's tape to cross from one section to another in straight lines ....

I did a buttonhole stitch on the star flowers to give them a frame ....

 ..... and a quick straight stitching on the stems and leaves.  I had fun playing with freemotion sloppy-by-design circles around each of the flower centers ....

Deciding on the binding for it was not easy.  I really wanted a nice plaid, but didn't have anything on hand that worked and certainly wasn't going to buy fabric for that!  Kim put blue on her original quilt, but it looked too out of place on mine, and red was too much red all by itself - no clear separation from the quilt because there was so much red in the borders.  So I decided to use one of my favorite binding techniques - a tiny flange of blue to stop and frame the quilt between it and a red binding ...

I love that Debbie Mumm selvedge!!!

Can you see her logo on the very left?  

There's no date on this one, but it's a few years old :*)

I began by stitching down my blue strips all around the quilt, a little less than 1/4" away from the edge....

Then I stitched the red binding strips on top of that using a full 1/4" inch which covered the previous stitching on the blue ....

Don't you just love it when the join lands smack dab on the top of the corner???  Grrrrrr!!!!!  I had to stop, tear out several inches of stitches, cut out the join and start it further back before the corner ....

Next, I machine stitched the binding down by stitching in the ditch between the blue and red ....

I use wonder clips on the sides and very fine pins at those tricky corners to keep the binding in place on the back so it is caught neatly in the stitching.....

I just love the look of this technique and have used it on several projects.

It is very effective at providing a frame for the center of the quilt by that line of color as a stop before the red comes in again in the binding.

The backing is a fun, summery sunflower print on a bright blue sky background .... not at all patriotic, but definitely playful and happy, and I think it complements the quilt nicely :*)

Now I need to get busy on my August calendar quilt!

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This is the first of my Q3 Finish-Along projects to be completed - woohoo!!!!  I'll be linking up with Adrianne at On the Windy Side.

Also linking up with SoScrappy for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge ... lots of fun happy RED scraps in this one!!!

And I'm happy to finally  have something to link up with the awesomely fun Scraptastic Tuesday!!!!

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I hope you all enjoy the 4th by doing whatever it is that you love most, 

with those whom you love the most -

and that we will all remember the men and women 

who have fought so hard to give us the freedom to do so!!!

.... and please celebrate safely my friends :*)

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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First 2015 Finish!

Indian Summer is finally finished!!!

This quilt was started in either 2007 or 2008, I can't remember which.  Either way, it is much too long.  The pattern is by Judy Niemeyer and was the perfect easy paper-piecing project for a newbie like me back then.

It is STILL one of my favorite quilts!

Which makes it even harder for me to understand why it took me so long to finish it.  I even quilted it last year - it's waited an entire year to have its binding applied!!!  Oh well.  I think the problem is that I really don't enjoy applying borders or bindings, so I avoid them.  I'm seeing a definite a pattern of putting these tasks off until the end of time unless something or someone lights a fire under me.

Can you believe I still had the binding fabric with the quilt???

The "fire" in this case was my Music City Guild UFO Challenge list.  I decided the only way to get some of these languishing projects off my To Do shelf was to assign them a number in the UFO Challenge - and sure enough, Karen called #10 for this month - binding Indian Summer!  And as much as it pains me to to admit it - if it weren't for that Challenge, this quilt would still be sitting on that shelf unbound ..... *hangs head in shame*.....  I could sure take some self-discipline lessons from some of you!

I suppose all's well that end's well, and thankfully this quilt's journey to completion has finally come to an end!

Yes, I sew most of my bindings on by machine!

As you can see, the front looks like a hand-sewn binding ....
but the back gives it away.  Still neat and tidy, but not hand sewn.
Which is perfectly fine with me!!!

I'm totally HAPPY with this quilt!  I've always planned for it to take up residence on the downstairs sofa in the great room.  I've been giving a little thought lately however to hanging it in the upstairs hallway to add some color.  Color is something it certainly has in abundance!!!

This is my first finish on my 2015 Finish-Along goals list for Q1!  You can see my list HERE if you like.  I had hoped to get at least one done in January, and I almost made it.

I'm also linking up with the following fun linky parties:
(You can check them out by clicking on their buttons in my sidebar to the right)

Tuesday Linky Party
WIP's Away
Binding Blitz

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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How NOT to Make a Binding!

Easy Street is finally quilted and bound  

I really wanted to have this quilt finished for Bonnie Hunter's visit last week, but time ran out for me to even think about trying to do it myself.  So I asked my friend Ruth to quilt it for me.  

We chose this lovely feathery panto and Ruth used a gorgeous aqua thread... I just love it!!!!

I also chose to do the binding by machine - another time saver!  

Plus, the binding will be more secure and sturdy.  

Since this will be a guest room bed quilt, it will see lots of use and washings :*)

Sounds quick and simple, right?  

WRONG!

I had a really, really stupid moment while I was cutting the fabric for the outer border and binding.  The fabric was an older one in my stash and it worked perfectly with all the colors going on in the quilt - I especially love the little lime green specks in there!  But I had just enough - you know how that works, right?  I had a good chunk of yardage and then a nice-sized piece left over from an earlier project.  There was not an inch to spare - and no chance of finding anymore anywhere!

I carefully measured the quilt to figure out the number of strips I would need.  Nine was cutting it really, really close, especially with some of the strips from the leftover piece being shorter than WOF.

I calculated how wide I could make the border and still have enough left over for the binding strips.

And then I got stupid!

 I didn't recheck my measurements and I didn't write them down!!!  

You know the old saying....

Measure Twice, Cut Once?

Well, let me tell you, life is sure a lot easier if you listen to that saying!

And I'm adding in a for-the-future note just for me - WRITE IT DOWN!!!

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I also didn't listen to my inner voice.  The one that said, "Cut your binding strips first, then measure what you have left and divide it by nine for your border strips."  Yeah, that voice.  I didn't listen.  And I went to work cutting my border strips first.  TOO WIDE!!!!  Instead of cutting them 4-1/2" inches like I was supposed to do, for some weird reason I cut them 6 inches!   Oh boy, was I in trouble!

It didn't take very long to realize that I wasn't going to have enough left for my nine binding strips at 2-1/4" wide each.  I had nothing else that would work for the binding, and I really wanted that beautiful border fabric to flow out all the way to the edge!

So this is what I did....

The remaining fabric was enough to cut nine strips at 1-1/4" wide.  Then I cut 1-1/2" off each of the border strips, leaving them the 4-1/2" they were supposed to be cut originally.  This left me with nine strips of each width, some of them a few inches shorter than others.  This is a huge quilt, and I was worried that with the strip joins and mitered corners, I might lose too much and run short.  I was holding my breath the whole way!

I then zig-zagged them together, with the edges butted up next to each other, like this....

I used a dark blue thread on the actual pieces - this is just to show how I did it :*D

I wasn't really sure if it was going to work.  After stitching the first two pieces, I tugged on them to see if they would be weak or separate - nope, it was a nice strong join!  Next, I trimmed the strips to a nice uniform 2-1/4" wide.

Since the strips were different widths, when I folded them in half the zig-zagged section was hidden in the fold.  And it laid nice and flat for me!

Don't you just love the satisfaction of a pile of binding all prepped and ready to sew down?

But was it going to be enough?  

That was the big question!!!

According to my measurements, I was going to have only inches to spare!

And voila!!!! 

This is what I had left over - 9 inches!!!

It was actually more left over than I thought there would be, so Happy Dance time!!!

So that is my story about my recent Adventures in Binding.  

It is a cautionary tale, and one I hope to take to heart in the future.

In the meantime, I will be enjoying my new quilt....

I wish you all...

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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