Tag Archives: finished quilts

Feb28

Hints for a great binding and Sandy Quilt donation project

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Great little quilts from this weeks quilting schedule. The fourth picture is not QUITE a quilt yet but is on my list for the upcoming weekend. These are blocks from all over the place. There are 42 total blocks donated by Mary Kay from Arizona, Evelyn from Canada, Jaynie from Texas, Mary Pat from Wisconsin, Rebecca from Utah, and Lisa from New Zealand. I will build these into a wonky quilt pattern and they will be sent to E-Quilter to be distributed to the people who went thru Sandy, the horrible storm on the East coast. So many are still without homes! It really feels good to give back to people in trouble. I hope to piece, quilt and bind this quilt and get it into the mail next week. Watch for a finished picture.

I had a wonderful time at my David Taylor class last weekend. One of the tips I learned, which I think is fantastic, is how David keeps his quilts perfectly square. Get twill tape (1/4″) from your local fabric store. Measure your quilt carefully and pin a piece of twill tape from exact corner to other corner. Do opposing sides as step 1 and 2. Be sure to pin the twill take carefully, ends, then middle, then split the difference as many times as you need to. Sew with a straight line stitch making sure the tape is right along the edge and does not extend into your quilt where the binding will not cover it. Then, measure the other two sides, excluding the first tape, pin as you did the others and stitch. THOSE EDGES AREN’T GOING ANYWHERE ANYMORE AND WILL ALWAYS BE EXACTLY THE SAME! No more uneven edges to bug you or quilt judges!

BE HAPPY…..Karen

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Feb5

Day Two at Retreat

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It’s happy Tuesday at Retreat today! Bonnie has finished her One Block Wonder Quilt – we named it THE FINGER! She is working on her second quilt top built from the special Creative Grids ruler, the 4 1/2″ quarter square triangle…Looks like it will be really neat!

Carole has been slaving over her blocks for two days now…maybe a glass of wine for dinner. She is one of the happiest quilters I know!

Sally gave up on her workshop project for a while and has resorted to crocheting. Grandbaby coming soon so she has an excuse. Can you tell she doesn’t want her picture taken – she hasn’t “styled” her hair yet!

Sandy finished this great quilt today. Looks really great especially the opposing corners!

Last, but not least, is our esteemed crew Captain – Judy! Her baby quilt is coming right along – a disappearing 4 patch.

The bright project is my finished top from a workshop several years ago. It is a Cara Gullati pattern only I made it with all of my hand dyed fabrics – super happy!

So…busy Retreat -lots of laughs and sewing and fun!

Until later…BE HAPPY

Karen

Jan31

TESTING A MACHINE APPLIQUE TECHNIQUE

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I have been wanting to test this machine applique technique for a long time. I also have wanted to work on this quilt “Red Delicious” by Esther Alieu. It is all done in multiple red prints and I just love the finished product. That being said, however, I just don’t have the time to needle turn applique and have watched Sharon Schamber use this technique of applique on most of her award winning quilts. The pieces are prepared with a specific foundation and edge turned with Elmer’s Glue. Here is the biggy…using monofilament you machine stitch a very small blanket stitch around all edges. As a prep Sharon instructs you to wash all of your applique fabric but NOT the background fabric. After completing the machine stitching you soak the block – this disintegrates the foundation into a soft fibre – and let the block dry. The background fabric, because it has not been prewashed, will shrink just a tad and thereby pull the stitching under so that it is completely invisible. Thats how it’s supposed to work anyway. I will soak my block tonight and let you know tomorrow how it does. I hope the picture of the bird is close enough for you to see the stitching before it is soaked. On this bird I was experimenting with the stitching. I started with a simple zig zag stitch but wasn’t happy with the way the thread pulled to the top no matter what tension adjustments I made. I then changed to a very small blanket (1.0/1.0) and it looks lots better. We will see tomorrow…..

Meanwhile, off to lunch with some good friends and then to the local quilt shop to deliver a couple of quilts.

Until later, BE HAPPY!

Karen

Jan28

QUILTS AND MORE QUILTS

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So, what do you do with your finished quilts? Now, I know I have at least this many unfinished tops, but these are complete quilts, draped gently over my upstairs banister. Some of them are working on the second layer now so I really need to find somewhre to put them. There is no more banister space.