Binding at the Beach

I realize it is still winter with snow on the ground and more predicted (at least where I live) but this is actually a catch-up post for the first of 3 quilts I finished up last October.  My blog was undergoing renovations so I delayed posting anything until the blog was back up and running.  So this posting will share memories of binding 3 quilts while my husband and I were on our annual fall Cape Hatteras vacation.  I was busy that fall making a large quilt for my sister-in-law to celebrate her retirement from the Virginia Beach school system.  If our schedules mesh, we stop by my brother and sister-in-law's house on our return trip from Hatteras back to NJ.  I also made toddler quilts for their 2 grand daughters.  It was my plan to have all of them completed so they could be dropped off during our visit.

The pressure was on!

The quilt for my SIL was well underway prior to our vacation trip.  The pattern was similar to the Super Simple Squares pattern on the Missouri Star Quilt Company (MSQC) website.  Check out the tutorial for this quilt.  I used a layer cake from my stash and cut it into quarters to make charm squares.  I used a solid ecru fabric, also from my stash, to cut the cornerstone blocks and the sashing.  The backing was also from my stash.  The quilt ended up being 70" by 82" when completed.  The quilting was done by the wonderful folks at the Old City Quilts shop.  While waiting for the quilting to be completed, I made the binding and had it ready to travel!

While the Hubs was fishing, I made myself comfortable in the cab of our truck.  I had nice music and beautiful ocean views which provided a very calming background for sewing down the binding.  I love using the Wonder Clips instead of pins on the binding.  No blood shed here!

You can see the circular quilting in the picture below.  I thought the circular stitching was a nice contrast to the square blocks and linear sashing.

The picture below was taken at the headquarters for Cape Hatteras State Park.  Lots of cars stopped to see the photo shoot!  One little sneaky critter watched us from behind the sign in front of the flag.  I did not notice him until I was looking at the pictures full size.  See the sweet little deer face?

I will post pictures and details of the two toddler quilts in the next post.  Thanks for reading chapter 1 of this story!  

Sailing the Seas for Batiks

One of the exciting events that occurred in April of 2017 was a 12 day cruise of the Caribbean.  I had no way of doing anything quilty other than reading a few quilting magazines by the pool on our beautiful ship.  We did schedule several excursions to the nearby islands so I was hoping I could find some fabrics to bring home.

The last island we visited was St. Kitts.  I knew I had a good chance of finding some fabric there, especially batiks.  To my surprise, one of the two locations this excursion would take us to was a batik factory!  The bad news was the stop was only 20 minutes long!  The bus pulled up to the side of the road where we could see several clothes lines covered with large sheets of batik fabrics drying in the beautiful sunshine!

Inside the building was a room where several fabrics were being made with wax and a variety of inks in a rainbow of colors.  I watched some of the process but I kept my eye on the clock to make sure I left enough time to shop.  And shop I did!  My wonderful husband said "get what you want".  He's a keeper!

After shopping and picking out a 3 yard length of beautiful fabric, we left the building to see some of the flower filled grounds.  Then it was time to get back on the bus!

I was also able to purchase some batik fabric from a shop in Antigua which was imported from India.  Of course I could not resist a good sale so I bought 2 yards there.

This picture was taken in front of a 400 year old tree.  It made me feel very young!

This was our chariot for the day.  The driver knew lots of wonderful stories about the island.  No one was left behind today, even if they took more than 20 minutes!

These are the treasures I bought on the cruise.  The blue fabric was purchased in Antigua and the large leaf fabric was purchased in St. Kitts.  I hope both places survived the devastating hurricanes that hit the islands recently.  I am not sure how the fabrics will be used but I am sure I will find the perfect pattern for them which will bring back lots of good memories of my island shop-hop!

Jelly Roll Race Quilt - The Finish Line

I wrote about this quilt several times over the years (yes, years!) but I am happy to report that this project has finally crossed the finish line! 

I started this journey in July of 2014.  That story was told in this blog post.  Here is how the quilt started:

If memory serves me correctly, this was the first jelly roll I ever used.  It certainly has not been the last.  I do have a few more jelly rolls waiting in the wings.  Some are already assigned to a future project, but the others are waiting for my inspiration to kick in. 

The top was completed in August 2016 when the borders were added and the backing was cut to proper size.  The binding fabric was chosen as well and cut to size.  Now all I needed to do was find the time to quilt it - or have it quilted by a local long armer. 

I am a big fan of MSQC (Missouri Star Quilt Company), as a matter of fact, the video of Jenny making a jelly roll race quilt was my inspiration for my quilt.  All of the materials were purchased from MSQC as well.  I thought it only fitting that I send the quilt there for machine quilting even though they were far from being local!  It was a very simple process using their website.  I did send the quilt to them just before the holidays so I knew up front that it would be added to the queue and would take a bit longer to be returned.  I purchased their batting as well.  I was not in a rush for completion so I was willing to wait.  Under ordinary circumstances, their wait time could be 6 weeks. 

I chose a holly leaf quilt pattern since this quilt used winter woodland themed fabrics.  My plan was to use this quilt at our cabin in the mountains.  I was a bit nervous about mailing my quilt out and making all the arrangements online, but I was so thrilled when I received the quilt back in mid-February 2017.  All the excess borders and batting were cut off and it was ready for binding.

                                              

 I was able to get to the binding step in May of this year.  I machine sewed the binding to the front of the quilt but the hand sewing of the binding to the back of the quilt was done at our cabin.  The weather was still cold there so the quilt was a welcome cover for my legs. 

Once I finished the binding, it was picture time.  I thought somewhere in the woods near our cabin would be appropriate.  I found the perfect spot right across the road!  As you can see, the completed quilt has come in very handy right into June since the weather remained in the mid-50s.  My husband has since adopted this quilt which is now warming his legs at our cabin!

I do have another jelly roll scheduled to be a repeat race quilt.  When I ordered the border fabrics for the first race quilt, I ordered enough for a second quilt so I have all the materials ready to go.  I hope the second quilt top will go just as quickly as the first one.  It's called a "race" quilt for a reason, but hopefully the finishing of the second one will go as quilting as the "race" sewing!  This quilt is now aptly named "Finish Line". 

I will have no hesitation about using the MSQC quilting services again.  I was completely pleased with the service, the quality of the work and their prices. 

I have several quilts in various stages of completion so hopefully I can blog about those soon.  We had quite a heavy travel schedule in April and May which I am certainly not complaining about, but it sure felt good to fondle my fabrics again! 

Until the next time! 

The Tale of the Table Runners!

I looked at the calendar today and discovered it was March 2nd already!  Huh?  Where did January and February go?  I was hoping to publish my list of things to do in 2017 in early January but obviously that did not happen.  The good news is that I did take inventory of all my fabrics, projects, WIPs and FANS (that's my new description of projects when the Fabric has been Assigned but Not Started).  I have more of those than I realized!  I will eventually list all of my projects for 2017 but for now, I will let you know what I have been up to so far this year.  If anyone asked, I could answer with one word: table runners. 

I must admit that as I started to go through my boxes, bins and bags of fabrics and precuts, I would lose focus and start to fondle my yardage, fat quarters, charm squares and layer cakes!  I found myself making piles of things to use in a future project, or two or three.  I finally smacked my head and screamed "focus, girl, focus!".   The ultimate goal at that time was to sort my fabrics into size and color so I could have a better understanding of what could be considered "a scrap" and what could be considered "usable yardage".  I am on a mission to organize my scraps into some kind of a logical system.  There are many systems out there but I have not yet found one that suits my needs.  At this point anything less than 2.5" inches square or strips less than 2.5" x 10" long is not kept.  I will save the discarded scraps in one bucket to make a doggie bed so really, nothing will go to waste.  But I digress - see how easy I lose my focus! 

Ok, so at this point in time I was in the process of finishing up a baby quilt.  I needed to spray baste it and then quilt and bind it.  That's now done and it is currently being hand bound and will be gifted next week.   I thought that while I had the table set up for spray basting that I would see what else was ready to get basted.  When I finally got around to taking down my Christmas tree, I had to put away the table runner on my coffee table in the room where the tree stood (all the other decorations were down and put away).  I loved that table runner!  I purchased the Christmas table runner as a kit and it came with the pattern so I thought I could make one in non-holiday fabrics.  It took me no time at all since the blocks were big and easy to make.  So this one went into the queue for spray basting.  As it turns out, I found another to baste, one more that was close to finishing and one that I started from scratch (remember those piles I mentioned earlier?).  So, here is my tale of the table runners! 

So, the most recent table runner has been on my list for a long time but I could never find the right fabrics for it.  The pattern calls for  forty-four 6 inch squares but I wanted to use charm squares since I have quite a collection of those and really didn't want to buy anything new.  The problem was that the pattern needed 44 squares and 99.9% of charm squares have 42 squares.  But when I sorted through my charm square collection I found exactly one that had 44 squares.  The top is done and it is now ready to be spray basted to the batting and backing which I made from 3 fat quarters that I also had on hand.  The binding is already made so it should be completed in short order.  The pattern is from the All People Quilt website.  It is one of their free patterns and is called Table Matters.  It finished about 16" x 78".  This one is for my foyer table. 

The next table runner is the one I made to replace the Christmas runner I mentioned earlier.  It is not only cut, sewn, basted and bound, it is actually in use on my coffee table!  I love this pattern!  I will certainly be making more for a variety of occasions and holidays!  The pattern came with the kit and is one of those 3.5" x 5.5" laminated cards you often find near a register in quilt shops.  These are gems!  Below is the inspiration runner next to the one I just completed.  The pattern name is Sew Square Runner and can be easily made from your stash.  It finishes at 15" x 55".  I had extra fabric from the rust color triangles so I used that for the backing.  All of these fabrics came from my stash.  I machine sewed the binding on the runner.  Not sure I like this method but I think with more practice, it might work out ok for me. 

The next runner is an oldie but a goodie.  I just happen to like this pattern and most likely bought the fabrics during a break from a class I was taking many years ago.  No clues to when or where (most likely the Quilter's Barn) but I love the pattern and the fabrics.  This one is now spray basted and the binding is made as shown in the photo below.  It will get a very simple stitch in the ditch quilting before being bound.  Since my Pfaff machine died, I have been using my Bernina exclusively.  I recently discovered the joys of using the #10 foot for doing SiTD quilting!  How did I ever quilt without this foot before!  This one will go on my dining room table as early as next Thanksgiving!  The pattern is called Regal Table Linen by Peg & Lil's Needle Patch.  The runner finished at 22.5" x 52".

The last runner is really an oldie and a goodie.  It was from a class given at the Quilter's Barn and I still had the class instructions.  The date and time of the class was recorded on the instruction sheet but I never recorded the year.  I guess I had big ideas of finishing everything in the year it was started - silly me!  However, the best lesson I learned from this project was finding anything about dates and calendars.  I knew the day and date of the class, even the time (9:30a to 12:30p) I just needed to find the year!  I found a website that can find that for you!  I started by asking Google "When did this date occur on a Saturday" and boy did I get answers!  Turns out it was 2002!  So this runner will celebrate it's 15th birthday in May of this year!  Isn't the internet fabulous?!  This pattern is called Waterwheel Tablerunner and finished to 22" x 77".  This will be my spring runner on my dining room table.  This one needs the most work since I need to either find the pink and floral fabrics in my stash or find suitable substitutes.  Two borders are needed before it can be basted and quilted.  The green in the photo is the backing and the yellow is for the binding. 

So, I have intentions of making 17 in 2017 (more about that in a future post), and these 4 runners along with the baby quilt will count as the first 5.  I have six others in the queue right off the bat so I am off and running, so to speak! 

Happy quilting!