On Point

I'm finally getting around to framing my Blogger's BOM blocks.  This is the first time I've put my blocks on point and I think it changes things up a bit, but it is also a tad more work.

Now I need to add the border.  It's a scrappy border using some of the fabrics used in the blocks, so it's a little time intensive.  I only hope I have enough fabric for the border.  I was using scraps as it was to make the blocks. 

Linking up to BOMs Away

The Winter Sea

source

This past month's book for book club was The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley.  After several months of "heavy" reading, mostly about World War II, we decided on a lighter read.  Here's a brief description:

"It is 2008 and Carrie McClelland can't hit the right note for her next novel, but an unplanned detour in Scotland, and a stop at the castle that inspired Count Dracula, sets her on a different path; a path that took her back in time exactly 300 years, to that same castle, and to a rebellion doomed to failure. Alternating between the contemporary setting and the past, The Winter Sea takes us at every turn into little known worlds; historical footnotes writ large, a history of Scotland and the Jacobite rebellion of 1708 and the possibility of genetic memory."

The first thing I have to say is that if you're a romantic at heart, then you will absolutely love this book.  It is romance and historical fiction at its best.  I absolutely devoured this book.  The history is intriguing, and there's not 1 but 2 romance threads throughout the book.  I appreciated that it was a clean romance, and also that it was based on real events in history.  My only word of caution is that the first 100 pages are a lot of set up and history, so don't get too discouraged, because it takes off like crazy after that.  I had a hard time putting it down.  All of the fabulous one-liners have be to my collective "favorite part" of this book.

I really enjoyed Susanna's Kearsley's writing style, so I was curious to see if I would like her other books.  They all tend to be historical fiction with a connection to modern day with some sort of romantic interest.  So far I have read 2 of her other books, The Rose Garden and Mariana, and I definitely like The Winter Sea by far the best, but they are still good reads.

Finishing It Up

Things have been a little crazy around here.  My poor Little Lady had croup this weekend.  It scared me half to death, but she got a dose of steroids and she's doing amazingly well now, so we're all doing a lot better.

Now that life is decidedly more calm and manageable I'm turning my attention to the last step of quilting.  I promised to give some information on how to bind a quilt for the ladies who have been attending my beginner's quilt classes.  I was going to do my own tutorial, but I've seen so many wonderful ones out there that I feel a little like it would be re-inventing the wheel.  So instead, I'm going to share with you a couple of different options and provide links for you, so you can decide what works best for you.

I personally like to hand bind my quilts and machine bind smaller projects such as table runners and doll quilts, but it's all a matter of personal preference.  A good beginner's guide on how to determine how much fabric you'll need and such can be found here. 

I like to change up what I do on a regular basis.  It keeps things interesting for me, but here are a couple of ideas when choosing fabric for your quilt:

When I make a baby quilt that has an inner border, I often match the binding with the inner border.

Sometimes, I like to use multiple fabrics that I used within the quilt itself.  I feel like this works particularly well with solids, but I've done it with patterned fabrics as well.

If it's a scrappy quilt I often like to make my binding scrappy as well:

A couple of other things to toss out there.  Think about whether or not you want your binding to stick out.  For example, sometimes I want my binding to blend in with the quilt, because it would take away the effect of the quilt, and sometimes it needs that bold framing to make the quilt fit together.  Here is an example of both:

If you like the idea of your binding blending in and matching the colors of your quilt, you should check out Debbie's really cool tutorial on lining up the fabrics to match.  Go here. 

A machine bound table runner

I typically cut my strips 2.5" wide when hand binding and 2.25" when machine binding, but that's also just personal preference.  There's a really good tutorial for hand binding that I recently saw on another friend's blog here and here's a couple of great machine binding tutorials here and here.  Just remember that there are so many different ways to bind, so if one doesn't seem to make sense to you, Google it and I'm sure you'll find another way that works for you.

An important reminder:  If you are hand binding your quilt, you will initially sew on the binding from the top of the quilt.  It is the exact opposite when machine quilting.  You attach the binding from the back of the quilt, so that when you fold it over your final machine stitch is on the front of the quilt.

One last great tutorial:  Amy gives great tips on getting the perfect corners when hand binding.  Go here for the tutorial.

I hope this is slightly helpful in getting your wheels turning and initial thoughts on binding your quilts.  If you have any questions please let me know.

Non-Edible Cupcakes

I finished up a cute, little baby quilt this morning.  I originally made it for a beginner's quilt class I taught, and then I used it to practice some FMQ, so I thought I should finish it up, because you never know who's going to be needing a baby quilt.

The Autumn light plays all kinds of tricks leaving long shadows on my quilt, but I kind of like it.  Here's a view of the back:  You can see the FMQ a lot better on this side. 

It feels nice to get yet another UFO off the list.  I'm making slow but sure progress.
Linkin' up to TGIFF and 2012 Finish-A-Long (original goals post here).

Jagged Lines

This week's design was Jagged Lines.  I used it in the outer border of the quilt.  After quilting it I have to say that I don't think it looks quite as good lengthwise down the border (the way I did it).

Straight lines are by their nature less forgiving than wavy lines, but I still liked the variation.  However, I quickly learned that I needed to pivot more definitively.  My corners weren't quite as sharp as I would have liked them.  Oh well - Practice, practice.  :)

I ran out of thread on the last border right before I could echo the last line.  So close and yet so far away!  I've been trying to avoid venturing out into the storm as much as possible, but a girl's got to have thread, so I may just have to brave it.

Catching Up

Life got crazy, and quilting was the first thing to take a back seat for a while.  I finally pulled it together enough to get back on the machine yesterday.  I finished my last block for 4x5 Modern Quilt Bee, and did 2 weeks worth of the Free Motion Quilt Along. 

Requested colors: Orange & Aqua w/ Kona White Background

Since I needed to do both Goldilocks & Trapped Paisley, I combined the two on a quilt top.  I traded off rows back and forth between the designs.  Here's a view from the back of the quilt since the pink thread shows up nicely against the brown:

It's a baby quilt, so I spread out the lines, so that the quilt wouldn't be too stiff.  

Coming and Going

I finished 2 more blocks to send out for the 4x5 Modern Quilt Bee.  It's been fun making the blocks in the requested colors:

Requested any shades of purple & gray with gray or black background

Requested Yellow, Turquoise, & Gray with Kona White background

Meanwhile, I got a package in the mail that made my day!  You'll remember that I made a sewing machine cover for a swap within our Wish Circle, and today I got my goodies!  She did such an awesome job! Excuse the crummy pictures; the weather wasn't cooperating for outdoor pictures. 

 Isn't this the cutest purse?!  I love it!  And it's blue- my favorite!

 The bag is fabulous and the most exciting part is that it's filled with yellow and orange scraps.

At a Snail's Pace

I confess I barely touched my sewing machine this week.  The only thing I did manage to get done was 2 of my blocks for the 4x5 Modern Quilt Bee.  I'm using Faith's Butterfly Strands Block (see here for tutorial).  They're fun to make, because they look different every time depending on where you cut your 45 degree angle on the background fabric. 

I haven't done the Free Motion Quilt Along for this past week yet, and I didn't touch anything else, so here are the ugly stats for the week:

Other projects
Quiet Book - pages need to be put together
Cupcake Quilt Top - ready to be quilted
Christmas blocks - no progress

Do.Good Stitches - up to date
Bloggers BOM - all blocks completed - need to be put together


Stats for the Week:
New projects - 1
Completed projects - 0
WIP- 6

Linking up to WIP Wednesday.